Off the Grid
by Saissa
Summary: The politics of JAG and the Navy are getting too much for Harm to deal with, so he decides that he has had enough and wants out. I just had this idea that Harm and Tracy would go Off the Grid once Harm has his 20 years in, and becomes eligible for a pension. Rated T for some language. AU after Boomerang in season 5. JAG characters belong to Donald Bellisario.
1. Chapter 1

Off the Grid

_A/N The Prologue includes everything known about Harmon Rabb's life up to and including season 1 of JAG_

Prologue

Ever since Harmon Rabb Junior had returned to the USA after his summer in Vietnam as a teenager, he had never forgotten what he had seen. Sure he remembered those people who had died to get himself and Colonel Stryker out of the country safely, and he certainly never forgot Gym, but he also remembered how the people had lived off the land without being bothered by the government bureaucrats.

As Rabb went through the Navy Academy, he made a determination that at some point in his life, perhaps after he retired from the Navy, that he too would be living off the grid. During the years after graduation and after flight school, he couldn't do anything about living off the grid while he was being posted to various aircraft carriers.

But then came his Ramp strike, the hospital stay and the enforced medical leave he was forced to take. Harm spent 6 months recovering on Grandma Sarah's farm in Pennsylvania, during which time he fixed up his dad's old biplane and named her Sarah after his grandmother. His dream to live off the grid had also been revived as he explored the land around the farm, learned how to hunt, to follow animal trails, and successfully make a kill. He was astonished when grandma Sarah showed him how to skin, clean and cook whatever animal he had hunted and killed, be it quail, rabbits, ducks, or young deer.

After he was declared fit for duty, Harm decided to become a lawyer - and enrolled at Georgetown Law school in Washington DC. Upon graduation, he attended the Navy Justice school in Rhode Island and was then posted to JAG HQ in Falls Church.

Harm was still a Lieutenant, as was his first partner Lieutenant Caitlin Pike. Pike's body language indicated she was available and so they had a torrid 2 day affair during one of their cases. Harm was ashamed at his lack of control and he ended the affair as soon as the case was complete. Pike requested a transfer.

Harm's next partner was a young innocent blonde haired woman from Texas. She was almost as tall as Harm, which gave them something in common. Her name was Lieutenant (junior grade) Meg Austin. The two of them got on very well together and Harm even felt himself falling in love with her. Until she disappeared after just one year and no-one could or would tell him where she had gone. The JAG could only explain that her mission was classified.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N - This covers Seasons 2 through 5 of JAG (1996-2000)_

_A/N 2 - Some of you asked to see the fireworks when Mac and Tracy first meet. Well they meet at the Surface Warfare Ball, and I hope you like what happened.  
_

Chapter 1

Several weeks later when Harm was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and awarded his first DFC, he was introduced to his new partner - a Marine Major named Sarah MacKenzie. She reminded him very much of his former girlfriend Diane. Harm was not sure what to make of her. Their first mission out to Arizona to rescue the Declaration of Independence from her Uncle (Marine Colonel Matthew O'Hara) as well as her admission that she was an alcoholic, started Harm thinking.

"I have to work with her but something tells me that she has a lot of emotional baggage. Rabb, make a note, Do NOT fall in love with her." Having told himself this, Harm elected to remain friends. After all they did have to work together.

Slowly over the next few years Mac's secrets came to light. How she was married but had lied on her application forms, how she had killed her ex-husband, supposedly in self-defence. Then Harm watched as Mac jumped ship to go work with Dalton Lowne in the private sector, only to discover that he just wanted her for a trophy and that the firm really had no intention of using her skills as a lawyer. Then it was discovered that Mac had been sleeping with her commanding officers - which explained why she had reached a high rank so fast. One of those lovers was Colonel John Farrow.

When Harm had the chance to have his eyes fixed through laser surgery, his next step was to change his designator in order to return to flying. He didn't feel the need to tell his partner. After all, this was his life, he needed to find some closure, and if she didn't like it, well that was her problem.

Mac was not at all happy that Harm had gone back to flying. She acted like he was abandoning her permanently. This was made clear when Mac showed up onboard his carrier with new Lieutenant Colonel pips on her shoulders, which meant she had received a promotion and NOT told Harm about it.

Several weeks later he was forced to return to JAG after he was told that he did not have enough hours in the air or enough traps to compete with his younger teammates. So once again, he was forced to leave his first choice of career and settle back into his second choice. But this time he did have some closure, as he was still King of the Greenie Board and he knew he was still one of the best aviators in the Navy.

Once Harm was released back to JAG from the SeaHawk, and his designator was changed back to that of a JAG Lawyer, the Admiral immediately sent him to the Pentagon to defend SECNAV Nelson's son who was accused of disobeying an order. Harm didn't know it, but fate was already in motion to change his life.

People rushed to move out of the way of the tall Naval officer who was striding through the halls of the Pentagon at a fast pace. Rabb was late for an appointment with the SecNav. Not slowing down to turn the corner, he blindly barreled into a young naval officer coming from the opposite direction and around the same corner, her arms piled high with folders. As they collided, the officers arms collapsed like a concertina and all the folders spiralled outwards, releasing their papers. In slow motion it was almost like rain, except that each raindrop was a piece of paper.

"Shoot! Why don't you watch where you are going?" The female voice with the southern accent, demanded as she crouched down to start grabbing as many papers together as she could. "I just spent ages getting these organized and now I going to have to sort them out, all over again."

The young lady had not looked up at all during her ranting. So she was shocked when a male voice replied. "Look, I have an appointment with the SECNAV, but perhaps I can help you organise these papers after my appointment? Which office are you in, Lieutenant Commander-?"

Tracy looked up into the most gorgeous blue eyes she had ever seen, and fell instantly in love. She could not see his stripes, so she had no idea what his rank was, but it was always better to err on the side of caution.

"Manetti, sir. I'm Lieutenant Commander Tracy Manetti. And I apologise for my harsh words, sir."

Harm stood up, and smiled. Now Tracy could see that he was the same rank as her, which was a relief. He was less likely to chew her out for insubordination.

"Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb. I hate to leave you with all this mess, but I have got to get the SecNav's office. Where is your office, Commander? I'll find you after I am done."

"2B444" she stated.

"Two B four forty four. Got it. I should be there in an hour to help. Now if you'll excuse me?" Harm turned and continued on his way with his long strides down the corridor. Tracy watched him go and then sighed.

"So that's the famous Harmon Rabb? Well, he sure looks good in his uniform. But I had no idea that he was so tall."

Tracy continued to gather her papers together and slowly made her way back to her office. Once there, she dumped the pile onto a coffee table and decide to leave them for now. After all, there was someone coming in an hour to help sort them all out again.

Tracy kept herself busy with legal briefs for the next fifty minutes and was surprised at just how fast the time had gone when there was a knock on her door.

"Enter" she called and watched the door open. Then a gorgeous pair of blue eyes peeked around the door.

"Is it safe to enter, Commander? I wouldn't want to be facing your wrath for the second time in an hour." Harm smiled as Tracy waved him in. Closing the door behind him, Harm wandered over to her desk and stood at parade rest, without invitation. She waved him to a seat.

"Those folders you knocked out of my arms, Commander. They're on the table beside you. Mostly legal briefs, but I had them sorted by case and then by date order. The case file numbers will be easy, it's the dates that were the hard part."

Harm looked at the pile on the table and asked. "Are any of those mine?"

Tracy frowned. "What do you mean, yours? You are a naval aviator, aren't you?"

Harm smiled his flyboy smile. "I'm also a lawyer at JAG. That's why I'm here today actually. I've been charged with defending Lieutenant Nelson (the SECNAV's son) against a charge of disobeying a lawful order."

Tracy was astounded, and her mouth fell open. "H Rabb is you? Yes. There are quite a few cases in there with H Rabb either prosecuting or defending."

"Good" exclaimed Harm as he moved his chair closer to the table."That will make this a lot easier, because I remember all my own cases."

Two hours later, Harm looked up as Tracy stopped in front of him. "Commander?" she asked. "It's 1830 hours. Do you want to get a bite to eat? Don't worry about those. I'll finish them off tomorrow."

"Almost finished, Commander, just give me a minute...there and done." he said as he closed the last folder and placed it nearly on the pile.

"Thank you, Commander," Tracy smiled. "Now about that offer. A bite to eat?"

"Certainly Commander. I don't eat meat, but I do eat chicken and fish."

"Do you like Mediterranean? Hummus, pita bread, falafel, chicken, that kind of stuff?" she asked.

Harm's face lit up. "I love Mediterranean cuisine."

"Excellent!" exclaimed Tracy. She led Harm to a Mediterranean cafe in the Pentagon food court, where they sat and chatted, mostly about the world events, politics, the economy and other non-personal subjects like that. At the end of the meal, they swapped business cards. Rabb had really enjoyed chatting with Tracy. He vowed to himself that he WOULD be back in touch with her some day.

A few weeks later, when Harm received his promotion to Commander, as well as his second DFC, he finally had a reason to call her again. So he called Tracy Manetti in the Pentagon, and left her a message, just to let her know of his promotion. She called him back that night and they spent several hours on the phone, chatting. It was as if only a few hours had passed since they last spoke, and not several weeks. Harm was thrilled at just how easy Tracy was to talk to, and how much they had in common.

Harm began asking Lieutenant Commander Tracy Manetti out on a few dates. One of the early dates was on a Saturday flying in his bi-pane, Sarah, over the Shenandoah National Forest in Virginia. Fortunately the plane did not develop any trouble, and he was not forced to land in the forest, unlike the last time he had taken a female passenger flying. Harm discovered that Tracy shared his love of flying. Having been raised on a tobacco farm, she loved the outdoors life just as he did.

In the meantime, back at the JAG office, Mac ignored Harm as much as she could. She was still angry that he had left her to "go off, gallivanting around the skies," as she put it.

Things became even worse when the team went down under to Australia to help Mic Brumby with a case. Mac threw herself at Harm, asking for what he thought was a one night stand. He tried to avoid saying No by saying Not Yet instead. The next day she was playing tonsil hockey with Brumby. It was very clear that she had slept with him and was now wearing Brumby's ring, even if it was on the right hand as a "friendship" ring. Brumby fully expected it to be moved over to Mac's left hand at a later date.

Harm took a big step back from Mac on an emotional level. It had taken him a while, but he finally understood that Mac was essentially an emotionally needy person. Which explained why she had seldom been available for him when he needed her. Harm decided that a totally clean break was absolutely necessary because he didn't have time for dealing with all her emotional needs. He had a job to do. Knowing that Brumby was a somewhat jealous man, Harm stopped looking to Mac for his emotional needs.

Asking Tracy to be his date for the Surface Warfare Ball was an easy decision for Harm. Harm had briefly told Tracy about Mac, just so she might have some idea what to expect at the Ball.

"Then there's Mac. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie. She once propositioned me and I turned her down. She didn't like that. She may try and proposition me again. But even if she does, it will be an easy decision to turn her down again, now that I know what kind of person she really is."

Tracy cocked her head and raised her eyebrows.

Harm shrugged."Mac is an emotionally needy person. She has a great body, and a beautiful face, but she uses her body to get whatever or whomever she wants. She does not take rejection very well."

At the Ball, Mac wore a long low cut red dress. She had intended going to the ball alone. That is, until Mic Brumby showed up wearing a tuxedo and saying that he had resigned his commission and moved half way around the world to be with the woman he loved. So Mac and Brumby entered the ballroom together.

Tracy arrived on Harm's arm looking spectacular in a black strapless floor length gown with gold threads that shimmered as she moved. Mac's eyes were staring daggers at Harm and his date.

Harm and Tracy moved over to the JAG table and everyone was looking at Tracy with interest.

"Everyone, This is Lieutenant Commander Tracy Manetti from the Pentagon. Tracy, these are my colleagues from JAG. Admiral AJ Chegwidden, Lieutenant Commander Alan Mattoni and his wife Jackie, Lieutenant Bud Roberts and his wife Lieutenant Harriet Sims, Lieutenant Loren Singer, Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Imes, Colonel Sarah MacKenzie and Mr Michael Brumby from Australia."

Everyone acknowledged Tracy with a nod and a smile, except for Mac and Brumby. Mac's eyes were flashing daggers at Tracy. Brumby's eyes were lustful, and Tracy felt like he was undressing her. She shivered. Harm drew closer and asked her what was wrong.

"I do not like the way Mr Brumby looks at me. He looks like he wants to undress me."

Harm frowned. "Do you want to press charges?" he asked.

"No. I can't prove anything at this point. But if I do end up dancing with him, and he tries anything, I do have the perfect way to deal with men like him."

Harm went off to get some drinks from the bar, and the ladies from JAG gathered around Tracy's chair and bombarded her with questions.

"So, Commander Manetti, where are you from?"

"Southern Virginia."

"What do you do at the Pentagon?"

"Not a lot."

"How did you meet Commander Rabb?"

"We bumped into each other at the Pentagon."

"How long have you been dating Commander Rabb?"

"Not long, just a few months."

"You're not blonde. He won't be around very long. Harm prefers blondes. Did you know that?" This last comment was spoken in a snide all-knowing tone of voice by Mac.

"And you think he belongs to you, Colonel MacKenzie?" Tracy asked. "If Harm does prefer blondes, then he could not be dating you, since you are clearly not a blonde."

Mac was shocked. So were all the other JAG ladies. No-one had ever responded to any of Mac's snide remarks before. The competition usually deflated and left soon after. They always accepted the warning Mac was conveying to stay away from Harm, because everyone in JAG knew that Harm belonged to her.

"One more thing, Colonel." Tracy spoke up again. "I understand that Mr Brumby is your date, this evening? I would appreciate it, if you could do me a favour, and ask him to keep his eyes to himself. If he looks at me as if he wants to undress me, one more time, I will report him for sexual harassment. So for both our sakes, I would like to suggest that you ask him to keep himself under control."

Mac gasped. "You do not tell me what to do. I'm a marine. Noone tells me what to do." Mac was getting angry and did not realise what she was saying.

"Really, Colonel?" Tracy raised an eyebrow as if she were asking a question. "I thought you were required to obey any and all orders that Admiral Chegwidden gave you? Am I wrong? Besides I was not telling you. I was strongly suggesting. But if you wish to ignore me, then that's fine. Mr Brumby will just have to deal with the consequences of his actions. "

Mac deflated. She scowled at Tracy and walked off towards the ladies room.

Tracy looked warily at the JAG ladies who were gathered around her chair. Some of them were smiling, while others were shocked.

"Commander Manetti?" came the gravelly voice of the Australian from behind her. "May I have this dance?"

"No, thank you. I am not available to you. I would appreciate that you do not ask me again this evening." Tracy was being polite.

"Why not? I have done nothing. This is the first time I am asking you." Brumby moved around to face Tracy and then began leaning forward into Tracy's personal space. Tracy leaned back.

"I do have the right to say NO, and I am exercising that right, Mr Brumby."

When Mac exited from the Ladies room, the first thing she saw was Mic Brumby leaning over Tracy in a somewhat threatening manner. Keeping in mind what Tracy had said about reporting Brumby for sexual harassment, Mac decided it would be a good idea to remove Brumby from that situation.

"Mic, I'll dance with you." she said in bright tone.

"Naaah, it's OK Sarah. I want to dance with Harm's date. I wanna see what Harm sees in the gook."

Brumby had not seen Rabb returning from the bar with drinks for himself and his date.

"Mr Brumby!" Harm snapped. Brumby automatically straightened up. Harm put his drinks down on a table, and then got into Brumby's personal space, using his height to intimidate the Australian.

"I expect you to apologise to Lieutenant Commander Manetti, for the racist word you just used."

Brumby sneered."I didn't say anything of a racist nature, Commander Rabb."

"Yes you did. That word is spelt G-O-O-K. It is a well known racist term in California for anyone of Asian descent, specifically with Asian eyes. I was raised in California. I heard it quite often when I was growing up."

Noone heard or saw the Admiral stop behind the JAG crowd.

"What is going on here?" Chegwidden demanded.

Harm spoke up first.

"Sir. I heard Mr Brumby refer to Commander Manetti using a racist word. I am ordering him to apologise."

Chegwidden looked around at the crowd. "Did anyone else hear this word?" Mac and the other JAG ladies nodded. He turned back to Rabb. "What was the word, Commander?"

"I'd rather not repeat it, but it is spelled G-O-O-K."

Chegwidden's eyes opened wide. He had heard that word a lot during the Vietnam war.

"In what way was he using this word, Commander?"

Harm repeated what Brumby had said to Mac.

The Admiral raised his eyebrows in question to Mac, who nodded silently.

"Brumby. On my six, now!" he snapped out.

The Admiral led Brumby outside of the ballroom and nothing more was heard for several minutes. Eventually Chegwidden stepped back into the ballroom and walked over to the crowd who were all still together. Turning to Mac, he spoke.

"Mr Brumby is no longer permitted to have any access to the JAG HQ as long as he is a civilian. He has asked for you to take him home, since he took a cab to get here. Please gather your coats and covers and take him home, Colonel."

Mac nodded and departed. She was fuming and furious. At Manetti for embarassing her and at Brumby for humiliating her in front of the JAG crowd.

Admiral Chegwidden stood to attention in front of Commander Manetti and apologised on behalf of all the JAG lawyers in the HQ office.

Rabb and Tracy both left the Ball shortly after. Rabb was quiet as he drove Tracy home. He was astounded at Brumby's rudeness and the racist remark made to Tracy as well as the cavalier attitude towards Mac. He also added this as one more reason not to stay in the Navy any longer past the 20 years necessary to qualify for a pension. As of now, he had just 2 years left before he could put in his retirement papers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 - Part 1

_A/N - Still follows canon but some things are AU - This is Season 6 - There is NO Renee in this AU. _

Date - October 2000

Back at the JAG office, in the days following the Surface Warfare Ball, things were somewhat tense between Harm and Mac. She was still fuming at how Harm had yelled at Brumby for using a supposedly racist term. She was also furious at Harm for bringing a date to the ball - one who seemed to be intelligent and self-assured, and who was NOT intimidated by Mac's beauty and authority. Someone who was NOT Mac.

Several days later, Harm was sent to Russia to help reform the Russian Military Legal System. He had a hard time saying goodbye to Tracy. This would be the first time they would be spending a week apart, since they had started dating.

Harm had previously determined that those Russian military laws already in place, were good laws. But Harm's liaison and translator, Captain Volkonov, told Harm that there were a number of Russian senior officers who did not always follow the laws. Harm and Volkonov, decided to go to Chechnya where there was a civil war between the Chechens and the Russians going on. Volkonov wanted to find proof that one of the corrupt Russian Generals was selling Russian weapons to the Chechens. His name was General Krylov.

Harm and Volkonov met up with a young Sergeant chopper pilot who flew Harm and Volkonov down to the most recent convoy on the road towards Chechnya. While they were checking over the weapons, they were ambushed by rebels. The young chopper pilot had conveniently been called away.

Harm and Volkonov survived, but when the young chopper pilot returned from the mission he had been sent on, the first thing Harm did was to hit him and call him a liar. It turns out that the young chopper pilot was also the son of Harmon Rabb Senior. His name was Sergei Zhukov.

Meanwhile back in DC, Mac and Bud were prosecuting a Naval officer who was accused of selling US military secrets to the Russians. After the defendant was killed in a car bomb, Mac was given permission to travel to Russia to find the assassin. Webb and Falcon had uncovered proof that there was also a plot to assassinate Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.

Mac, and Webb flew to Russia. When Mac learned that Harm was in Chechnya, she hired Alexei, the taxi driver, and had him to drive her all the way to Chechnya.

It turned out that the assassin that Mac was looking for, was actually hired by General Krylov, the same crooked Russian general that Harm and Volkonov were looking for. The same general who was selling weapons to the Chechens.

General Krylov had his men sneak a box of weapons onto Sergei's helicopter and then arrested Sergei for selling weapons to the enemy (the Chechens). The kangaroo court that was convened was a farce. The panel blatantly flouted the rule of law and did nothing to support Sergei's rights according to the Russian Constitution. The only thing Harm and Volkonov could do in Sergei's defense, was to appeal to President Vladimir Putin, who coincidently, was visiting the Russian base that afternoon.

So, Harm, Volkonov and Sergei were all thrown back into the brig. Mac eventually arrived to see them. She spotted the assassin out the brig window, as he parked and walked away from an ambulance out on the tarmac. The group called for the guard, knocked him unconscious and escaped. Harm and Sergei dealt with the bomb in the ambulance, while Mac and Volkonov went looking for the assassin. His MO was to detonate bombs by remote control. Upon his capture, he still attempted to detonate the bomb, but by then, Sergei had disabled it.

At the Moscow airport, Webb handed out plane tickets, including giving one to Sergei, who surprised everyone by choosing NOT to travel to America at that time. He wanted to stay with his friends and finish the war. Thirty-six hours later, Harm and Mac arrived back in DC.

Harm had a lot to think about on the trip home.

_Mostly about his father. His father being on the run in a country where he did not speak the language. His father who was lonely and slept with the young woman whom he had rescued from potential rapists. His half brother. When was his brother going to be able to travel to the USA? How were they going to find proof of Sergei's American ancestry? How was Harm going to tell his mother? Trisha would be devastated. Other than the fact that Harmon Rabb senior had been declared legally dead, and Trisha had moved on and even remarried, Harm still thought that she would be upset more about the fact that her first husband had survived Vietnam to sleep with a Russian and father another child, before he died. _

Tiner picked Mac and Harm up from the airport at 0600, and dropped them both off at their respective homes, saying that the Admiral had given them permission to take the day off, since it was a Friday, but they had to be back at the office at 0800 Monday morning. Back in his apartment, Harm called Tracy at home just before she left for work.

"Hi Tracy. It's Harm. I have just arrived home from Russia. I have some very interesting news to tell you. I am also jetlagged and I need to sleep. May I come over later on and cook dinner for you?"

Tracy was thrilled to hear Harm's voice on the phone. "Harm. I'm so glad to know that you got back safely. Sure you can come over and make me some dinner. You know where the spare key is. I'm heading out to work."

"Thanks Tracy. I'll cook up something for dinner, so don't go buying anything. Unless you are drastically low on food?"

"I did a shop two days ago. It was lonely without you. I needed to keep myself occupied. So I have plenty of food in the cupboards."

"Good. I'll let you go. You don't want to be late for work. And I will see you this evening for dinner. Bye."

Harm crashed on his bed at 0800, and was awake again by 1500. He had a quick shower, dressed, grabbed his car keys and his go bag, drove over to Tracy's apartment and let himself in using the spare key.

Looking in Tracy's pantry, he came up with a good dinner menu - stir-fry vegetables, homemade garlic-ginger chutney and noodles. Tracy arrived home at 1830, her usual time, and they spent several minutes in each others embrace. Neither of them had said anything about their feelings yet, but they knew that this was the real deal. Harm kissed the top of Tracy's head and released her, telling her that dinner was ready.

After Harm and Tracy had eaten dinner, and done the dishes, they were still at the table drinking coffee. The interesting news Harm had mentioned on the phone, had not yet been mentioned. So Tracy spoke up.

"Harm, you said on the phone this morning that you had something interesting to tell me."

Harm smiled wanely. "Do you remember me telling you about how Mac and I went into Russia and I finally discovered where my father was buried, out in the Siberian Taiga?"

"Yes." Tracy nodded.

"Well, it appears that my father slept with the woman he later rescued from the drunken soldiers. She was already pregnant when she was attacked. He tried to rescue her and got himself shot and killed. So he must have known that she was expecting his child. Or maybe not, since he didn't speak Russian and she didn't speak English. Anyway the baby was born after my father died. I met him last week in Russia. Tracy, I have a half brother. His name is Sergei. He's a helo pilot in the Russian army. Right now he is fighting the Chechens."

Tracy looked at Harm carefully. His face wasn't showing any emotion. He wasn't glad, but he wasn't sad either. She could not see his eyes.

"So, how do you feel about this, Harm?"

He turned to face her and the sorrow in his eyes was devastating. His soul was hurting, about a lot of things. _That his father was never coming back. That his father had given up on Harm junior and his mother. That his father had forsaken his marriage vows and slept with another woman._ All this flashed through Tracy's mind as everything coalesced in her mind, like a light bulb being turned on and she finally understood what was happening to Harm and why.

Tracy had already figured out, that showing loyalty to Harm meant she simply had to wait until he was ready to move on to the next step. Mac had never understood this. In an ideal world, Harm's mother would not have remarried, but would have waited for Harm senior to come home, just as Harm junior was still waiting - until now. And in Harm's ideal world, Sarah Mackenzie should also have waited. Now as an adult, Harm junior was finally forced to accept the fact that his father would never be coming home, and that Mac had not waited. And Harm had to grieve those losses.

Tracy helped Harm over to the couch and she held him in her arms, as Harm collapsed into a shuddering mass of emotion and he cried. For over an hour Tracy held this tall man in her arms, as he grieved not only the loss of his father but also of the thirty years of hope he had been clinging to.

Eventually Harm fell asleep, and Tracy tucked him into the couch, covering him with a blanket, removing only his shoes. She cleaned up the kitchen, locked up the apartment and went to bed to read a book. It had been a rather emotional evening. Fortunately it was the weekend and that would give Harm a couple of days to recover.

When Harm woke up the next morning, he found himself on Tracy's couch and with a feeling of being at peace. Finally he was at peace. A feeling he had not fully experienced since before that dreadful evening back in 1969.

Harm finally knew for sure that his father was dead, and that he had a younger half brother. So the next question was - How was he going to tell his mother?

The smell of coffee and toast had Harm getting up off the couch, and walking to the kitchen where he found Tracy making breakfast.

"Good morning, Tracy" Harm bent down and kissed Tracy on the cheek. "I can't thank you enough for being there for me last night. I really needed to be able to let everything go. I finally feel at peace."

Tracy smiled. "Good. I'm glad you felt safe enough with me to grieve. And I am sorry for your loss. Now it's a sunny day. Do you think you might feel up to taking me flying today?"

Harm's flyboy grin was firmly back in place as he nodded. "Flying is a great idea. Let me call the air field and ask them to get Sarah ready."

An hour later they were on the beltway and heading west to Leesburg where Sarah was kept. A day of flying was everything Harm needed to be back on top of the world. Harm decide that a short trip would be a good idea, instead of just flying around the local area.

So he mapped out a round trip from Leesburg, north east across the Potomac, to Baltimore in Maryland, then north to Lancaster and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, turning south west to Hagerstown in Maryland and finally south back to Leesburg in Virginia. The round trip was expected to take 3 to 4 hours depending on the winds. Harm calculated that they should be able to get around the entire route without refuelling, but there were any number of airfields they could stop at, if fuel was needed. He filed his flight plan.

Any trip in a open bi-plane means there is not a lot of talking going on. But Tracy loved the feeling of being in flight and the fantastic views over the land as they flew along. While Tracy had been to Baltimore several times, she had never been to Harrisburg. Since this meant she got to fly over Lancaster county, she got to see Amish life from the air. Fortunately Amish horses are well trained and are not spooked when Stearman planes fly over head.

They faced some strong headwinds heading south back to Virginia, so Harm was forced to stop at Hagerstown to refuel. He did not want to arrive back at Leesburg on fumes - what naval aviators called "bingo fuel".

The only incident that marred the trip happened in Hagerstown during the refueling stop, when some drunk men hanging around the fueling depot, decided to make a play for Tracy.

One very brave drunk man staggered up to Tracy and grabbed her arm, "Hey, babe, I hear you Gook women are real good in the sack... how much for an all nighter?"

Harm took two steps towards Tracy, but stopped when she indicated with a slight hand wave for him to back off. He stopped to watch.

Twisting her arm out of the drunks grip, she placed the diesel hose in the gas tank and began refueling Sarah. Turning back to the drunk and his friends, she spoke. "I'm about to go on a kamikaze dive. Do you want to come with me?"

The looks of horror on the faces of those men was priceless and Harm relaxed, knowing that Tracy had handled them perfectly. He grinned as he remembered the shocked looks on their faces.

The return flight to Leesburg was uneventful and by the time Harm and Tracy had driven all the way back to Tracy's apartment it was time to eat. Fortunately they had been able to pick up some Mediterranean takeout on the way home. Once inside Tracy's apartment, they settled down to eat.

"Thanks for a great trip, Harm, I really enjoyed it. I never realised just how much fun flying is. I can see why you love it so much."

"Yeah, I do. And I was really impressed with that comeback you gave to those drunk guys at Hagerstown. The ones who were hitting on you. I thought that was hilarious."

Tracy smiled. "Yes, I have had to deal with those attitudes for a good part of my life, unfortunately. As does my mother. She is from Okinawa. Between the two of us, we have built up a collection of witty comebacks and we use whichever one is appropriate to the situation. That one was just perfect! It doesn't get used very often."

Harm stayed a second night on Tracy's couch. Fortunately it was a nice six foot couch that allowed him to sleep, pretty much stretched out at full length.

The next day was Sunday, and apart from going running in Rock Creek Park, they stayed pretty close to home, and relaxed. Harm said good night to Tracy and drove back to his apartment after dinner on Sunday evening. He needed to make sure that he had a clean uniform to wear.

The next day back at the JAG office, Harm was inundated with calls of "Welcome back, Sir" and a whole pile of cases that needed to be dealt with. Then came the call from Florida. The Navy had picked up a young Cuban girl at sea, and having prevented her from touching US soil, meant she should have been sent back to Cuba. The captain of the Naval vessel was of Cuban origin himself, and he really really wanted to help Reynalda (the 6 year old Cuban girl) get her "feet dry" on US soil so that she could stay. It didn't help that a Cuban vessel was also in the vicinity demanding that Reynalda be handed back to Cuba.

Harm still had not told his mother about his new half brother. Tracy was encouraging him to tell her, "before it comes back to bite you in the ass."

Harm was shocked when his mother showed up at his apartment unexpectedly one evening in late October. She said she was on her way back to La Jolla after having renewed her vows in Venice, Italy, with her husband Frank - Harm's stepfather. Trisha explained to Harm that it had been very difficult to hear how her first husband had died and that she had grieved all over again. Harm decided that telling her about Sergei was not a good idea for the time being. So he stayed silent.

Harm was able to avoid being on TV while an episode of the TV series "Court TV" was being filmed at JAG. Mac was up against her Law Professor from Duke University. Apparently the Professor had once told Mac, as a young law student, that she (Mac) would make a _better lap dancer than a lawyer__._ Mac really wanted to win this case to prove to her old professor that she was a good lawyer. During all this, Harm was on the Sea Hawk investigating an apparent suicide.

In November, tragedy struck the JAG officers. Harriet Sims was pregnant and due to give birth in December. She went into premature labour and was taken to the hospital. Harriet survived but their baby daughter, whom they had planned to call Sarah after Colonel MacKenzie, died. The Doctor arrived too late in the labour room to prevent the baby from suffocating in the birth canal. There was also a prolapsed umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck.

Lieutenant Bud Roberts was devastated at the loss of his baby daughter. He started talking about wanting to blame someone. He brought the OB/GYN to a court martial (since the doctor was active duty naval reserve), and lost. The doctor was found not guilty. Mostly because Harriet had not fully disclosed all her medical history. Bud then began talking about suing the doctor in civil court. He appeared to be on a vendetta. He had to be advised by the judge that this behaviour was unacceptable and that he would be discharged if his FITREP was not good, before he eventually stopped his vendetta.

At the same time that Harriet lost her baby, Webb went to Harm's apartment, where he told Harm that Sergei had been shot down in the mountains of Chechnya and was missing.

The next morning Harm immediately requested a meeting with Admiral Chegwidden.

"Sir, I have a request."

The Admiral sighed. "Commander, I've talked to Webb, who's been on the line with his FSB friends in Grozny. SECNAV's in touch with his counterpart in Moscow. Everything is being done to find your brother."

"I understand that, sir, but he's still missing. And I have 22 days' leave accumulated, Sir. I'd like to take that time now." Harm asked.

"That's not a good idea, commander." The Admiral was not happy.

Harm went into stubborn and persistent mode. "I've been to Chechnya. I know the Russian flag officers."

The Admiral smirked, "Yes and they know you. If you run into friends of General Krylov, Sergei won't be the only one MIA."

Harm tried again. "Sir, this is important to me. Look, I was too young to do anything about my father, but maybe I can help here."

The Admiral frowned "Commander, you don't speak the language. You have no authority, no support. Hell, you're gonna be caught between a bloodthirsty army on one side and cutthroat guerrillas on the other." Chegwidden was getting somewhat riled up at one of his subordinates who refused to take NO for an answer.

"But this is my brother, Admiral." Harm's tone of voice was beseeching.

Chegwidden looked astonished and shook his head. " I must be losing my grip. First, it's Lieutenant Roberts, and now it's you."

"We have commitments to our families, sir." Harm tried one last time.

The Admiral stood firm. "And to the chain of command. Leave request denied. Permission to travel to Chechnya denied. Dismissed."

Later that day, Harm and Webb entered Harm's apartment. Harm was certainly not expecting Tracy to be there.

Harm reluctantly introduced Tracy. "Webb. This is Lieutenant Commander Tracy Manetti from the SecNav's office in the Pentagon. My girlfriend." Webb raised his eyebrows. "And NO Webb, she is NOT available for ANY of your missions." Harm was adamant about that. He turned back to Tracy.

"Sorry Tracy. Clay took me over to NSA to listen to communication intercepts from Chechnya."

"Anything?" Tracy asked.

"Nothing good. The Russians bombed a village, killed some Chechens. Chechens ambushed a convoy, killed some Russians."

Tracy was concerned for Harm's state of mind. "Harm, Sergei has Rabb genes, all right? He's a survivor."

Harm agreed. "Well, I got Rabb genes too, and I'm supposed to just sit here and peruse contracts about wing nuts and widgets?"

Webb interrupted. "We do have people in Grozny. We're sending them into the field."

Harm again. "But how motivated are they really? I mean, do they give a damn?"

Webb was sceptical. "Harm, what do you wanna do? Disobey a direct order from your commanding officer?"

Harm went silent."I may not have to. If I resign my commission."

Tracy was shocked and she shook her head. Webb's cell phone rang. He answered it.

"Yes? Tomorrow? Great." Webb hung up.

"The Washington Post is going to run a story about the son of Lieutenant Harmon Rabb Sr., an American POW from Vietnam, as a Russian soldier missing in Chechnya."

Harm was surprised. "What?"

Webb continued. "Harm, it may not hurt. If the Chechens have him, they may take better care of him."

Harm moved into his bedroom and began throwing clothes into his go-bag.

"Harm?" Tracy had no idea what was going on.

Harm's voice floated back into the kitchen. "Maybe I can catch the last flight to San Diego."

"San Diego?" muttered Webb.

Harm stopped and looked at Tracy with a resigned look. He was remembering her statement about being bitten in the ass. "I never told my mother about Sergei. She reads The Post."

Six hours later Harm was in La Jolla and meeting his mother at an outdoor cafe on the beach.

"Wish you'd tell me you were coming, Harm." Trisha spoke up. "Frank would love to see you."

"Oh, give him my best, huh?"

"And I'd love to know why you're here." Trisha gave her son a shrewd look.

"A son can't visit his mom?" Harm asked in disbelief.

"Sure," said Trisha, "but you seldom do."

Harm decided not to stall any further. So with no further ado, he dived in. "You think about Dad much, Mom?" he asked.

" Sure, I do. Whenever I look at you, I know some part of him is still alive."

"When Dad escaped the POW camp in Siberia, Mom, you know he was taken in by a woman and her brother?" Harm spoke.

Trisha nodded. "Yes, You told me. He went to work on their farm and was killed saving her from drunk soldiers. So like your father."

Harm continued. "The woman, Pitchta. When Dad died, she was carrying his baby. She gave birth to a son, Sergei. I met him when I was in Chechnya. I have a half brother."

Trisha sat back stunned, unable to say anything. Then she became agitated and stood up to walk around. Harm followed her.

" I don't know who to be angry at." she said flatly.

"I was trying to protect you, Mom." replied her son.

"Protect me? You were trying to protect your father." she insisted.

"I was born a little late for that." Harm denied.

"Ha. Seems like a lot of people were born too damn late." Trisha replied.

Harm stopped to push his point. "You know, I think he knew he'd never get out of Russia. He had no hope of seeing you again."

Trisha was agitated as she waved her arms and spoke. "Look, I'm not angry with him about that woman. I'm angry with him for not coming home. I'm angry with him for my lonely heart. I'm angry with him for missing so much, for missing you. And you **should've** told me."

Harm was contrite. "I know."

"So. Tell me about your brother." Trisha made an effort to sound more cheerful as she continued walking.

Harm smiled. "He's a decent kid. He's brave. Strong sense of duty..." His voice faded off.

Trisha was eager to know more. "What does he look like? Does he have his eyes?"

"He's got Dad's smile."

"You going to try and find him too?" Trisha stopped to look into Harms eyes as she asked.

Harm shook his head. "The admiral's ordered me not to go to Chechnya."

Trisha smiled and walked on. "I must thank that man."

A few days later on Xmas Eve, Harm was back in DC and making his annual pilgrimage to the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Tracy tracked her missing aviator boyfriend down to the wall and asked him what his decision was. Harm had finally made the decision to resign his commission and go back to Russia again to find his brother. Two days later he called Captain Volkonov in Moscow and requested to be picked up from the Sheremetevyo airport at Moscow the following Thursday.

Unknown to Harm, not that this news would have bothered him, on Christmas Day, Mac finally became engaged. Mac had always said that she would move the ring from her right hand to her left, when the time was right. Brumby had been waiting ten months, and as he stated to Mac, if the time was still not right, then he was going to move back to Australia. Mac moved the ring to her left hand.

Harm was back in his office on December 28th and packing up his books and personal possessions prior to shipping out, when Webb and the Admiral both entered his office. Harm stumbled to his feet and tried to stand at attention.

The Admiral waved Harm back to parade rest. "As you were."

"Admiral, I'm-" Harm was not sure what was going on.

"Redecorating?" Chegwidden asked.

"Sir, I've left a request for voluntary separation with a statement of special circumstance in your box. It's not a decision I arrived at easily, Admiral."

"Tell him." Chegwidden ordered Webb to explain whatever was going on.

"Major Sokol called. A Russian listening post picked up a Chechen field radio. A local commander mentioned a captured helo pilot: Sergei Zhukov, alive and uninjured."

The Admiral continued. "He's a P.O.W. SECNAV's talking to Russian brass about a prisoner swap."

Webb interrupted. "And our people will make sure it includes Sergei."

"Hey, that's good news." Harm was relieved to hear that Sergei was alive and well.

The Admiral continued. "So there's nothing anyone else can do over there now, is there?"

Harm looked ashamed. "No, I suppose not." he admitted.

"Webb, will you excuse us a minute?" the Admiral made his request.

"Sure." Webb left the room.

The admiral held out Rabb's resignation, and slowly ripped it in half. "You know, this thing's no good. It's supposed to be filled out in triplicate."

Harm was left standing in his office with a huge grin of relief that he was not going to lose his job and that his brother was alive and well.

_A/N - _"Regular speech is someone talking"and_ "Italics is someone thinking"_

_A/N - Special thanks to Byrhthelm for being my sounding board and for providing technical details. _

_A/N - Special thanks also the TV script website - springfieldspringfield dot co dot uk forward slash tv underscore show underscore episode underscore scripts_

_A/N - More of season 6 to come in part 2. _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 2 Part 2

January 2001

The JAG Office was back in full swing after the New Year celebrations had ended. Even Lieutenant Harriet Sims had returned. Colonel Mackenzie delivered a new pile of files to Harriet's desk which made Harriet happy. Seconds later Harm was introducing his old partner Commander Caitlin Pike to Sarah and Harriet. That's when Harriet spotted the Colonel's bare right hand, and she pounced.

"You took the ring off!" exclaimed Harriet, clasping Mac's right hand. Mac blushed and brought out her left hand with the ring on it.

"You're engaged!" Harriet screamed. "Oh, my gosh. Congratulations."

Mac looked at Harm. He had a small smile. "Well, when were you gonna tell us?" he asked. But what was going through Harm's mind was relief that he had escaped this whole situation. _I'm glad that is not my ring. I would hate to be with a woman who took almost a year to make up her mind and say yes. _

" I was waiting for the right moment." Mac replied.

"Well, if this is it, then I'll spread the word." Harriet interrupted and off she went to spread the gossip.

"Congratulations." Kate offered her best wishes to Mac.

"Thanks. So how long are you here?" Mac asked.

"About a week. Doing computer revisions." Kate explained.

The easy camaraderie between Kate and Harm, indicated to Mac that they knew each other. So she asked. Kate explained that she had once been at JAG for six months before moving on to NCIS.

The Admiral interrupted their little gathering at this point and reminded Kate that she would be working in the Conference room, and that she was to think about the offer he had made, for her to return to JAG, since he could always use another trial lawyer.

Turning to Mac, he said that he had just heard about her engagement. "I'm very happy for you."

Later that day Kate discovered that Admiral Hollenbeck had just be promoted to the position of Inspector General. Kate was shaken and immediately went to Harm to talk to him. She told him that Hollenbeck had once groped her during a briefing several years earlier when he was a Captain and she was a Lieutenant.

Lieutenant Singer may have heard their conversation and alerted the media because the next thing that happened was Kate getting a whole lot of phone calls from the media to comment. When Harm asked Singer outright if she had alerted the media, Singer did not deny it.

Kate was furious and she admitted to Mac over a coffee break that she had once slept with a senior officer in Okinawa, and that had been a mistake.

Because of the article in the paper, Admiral Hollenbeck was charged with sexual harassment and an article 32 was convened. Admiral Chegwidden asked Mac to defend Hollenbeck, to which she refused. When asked why, she admitted that when she and Kate had been talking, Kate had admitted to some personal information that might be detrimental to the defence. She was excused. Harm also tried to weasel out, on account of his previous albeit brief relationship with Commander Pike, but the Admiral refused to accept his excuse.

A short time later, Mac bumped into Commander Mattoni and Lieutenant Singer. Unknown to them, Commander Pike was hovering nearby. Mattoni was wanting to know why Mac had recused herself. Mac refused to respond and so Mattoni told Singer do to dig up everything she could on Commander Pike.

Commander Pike was worried. She immediately headed for Harm's office, knocked and then barged in. She did not expect to find another woman wearing Lieutenant Commander stripes, sitting in a chair next to Harm and with both their heads bent over something on the desk.

Harm looked up in surprise and with a look of annoyance.

"Harm. Sorry." Kate plowed to a stop.

"No. Come on in." Harm waved for Kate to stay where she was.

"Commander Pike, this is Lieutenant Commander Tracy Manetti." Harm did the introductions.

Kate was confused. This woman was clearly of Japanese origin, but the surname was Italian, not Japanese.

"Hi." Tracy spoke first instantly sizing Kate up as one of Harm's old flames. And judging by the look on Kate's face, she probably wanted to get back into Harm's pants.

" Hi." Kate was a little too shocked to say anything more, until she recovered. "And it's Kate."

Harm was reticent. "Um Kate and l - go back a-ways." he explained to Tracy.

An awkward silence ensued.

Tracy nodded her head. "I've heard nice things about you." _That was a blatant lie. She had heard nothing about Kate whatsoever. And nothing about any of Harm's previous girlfriends, except for Mac. Tracy was going to have to interrogate him this evening, just so she was not surprised again."_

" From him? Kate asked.

"No. He never says anything nice." Tracy replied.

"Oh, good. I'm glad it's not just me." Kate laughed and relaxed. Right at that moment, Mac barged into the office, while reading a brief, and the atmosphere turned cold again.

"Harm." She asked. She almost bumped into Kate before she stopped moving.

"Mac." Kate acknowledged

"Kate." Mac returned the acknowledgement. And then her gaze moved to Tracy."Tracy." Mac ground out reluctantly.

"I'm just leaving. Have to get back to the Pentagon." Tracy came out fighting on all levels. Since they were both in uniform, and in front of others, she could not touch him in any romantic manner. "I'll see you later."

Harm smiled and nodded, "I'll do my best."

"Does he ever stand you up?" Kate burst out.

"Only when duty calls. and even then I still get a phone call." Tracy replied.

"Well, it was nice meeting you." Kate was just being polite.

"You too." As was Tracy, as she left the room, pausing only to acknowledge the Marine.

"Mac"

"Tracy." Mac's voice was as cold as ice. Tracy left the office. Mac turned and headed out, mumbling, "I'll come back later." Kate felt like she had won that little war. She closed and locked the door.

"Wow, When they made you commander, did they gave you a harem?" she joked.

"Kate." Harm gave her a warning.

"I remember you standing me up. I think it was against the wall of our motel room." Kate had a huge grin on her face.

"You wanna discuss your testimony or you just wanna make my life a living hell?" Harm growled.

Later that evening, Tracy drove over to Harm's apartment to find out just how many other girlfriends Harm had in his past. She was not jealous over the fact that he had a past. That was to be expected. After all, she had a past too.

No, she just wanted to know their names so that she would not be surprised if she should meet up with any of them. She also wanted clarification of Mac's comment at the Surface Warfare Ball about Harm preferring blondes. Which of these past ladies were blonde.

Over dinner, Harmon tried to list all the girlfriends or women who might claim to be his girlfriend, up until he came back from flying and met Tracy.

**Diane Schonke.** A classmate from the Academy. She looked like Mac, but she's dead. She was a Brunette, just like Mac is.

**Maria Elena Carmen Moreno Gutierrez.** An air hostess with the Spanish Iberian airline. Being Spanish meant she was also a brunette.

**Alison Krennick**. She was a barracuda. Harm explained that back when he was a lieutenant just starting out at JAG, Krennick was a Lieutenant Commander and was constantly harassing Harm to sleep with her. Harm was embarrassed about being harrassed by a women so he never did or said anything official, and of course he always said no. He had been taught that women just did not do the chasing. Harm recognised that she was a user. Anyone she slept with, would most likely be trashed and get a bad FITREP at some point in their career. Oh, and yes she was a blonde.

**Annie Pendry.** The widow of Harm's best friend at the Academy. Her son Joshua is Harm's godson, but since the Tiger Cruise a few years ago, Annie had refused permission for Harm to see Joshua. Annie has light brown hair but Harm would not have called it blonde. Joshua had blond hair though - the last time Harm saw him.

**Caitlin Pike**, "whom you met today. We had a very brief affair that ended after just one weekend. Barely 48 hours." Harm admitted to not being happy that he could not resist her charms, but Kate was never terribly fussy about where she found companionship. Harm had refused to have anything more to do with her other than professionally for the rest of the case. She later transferred out.

**Meg Austin.** Harm's second JAG partner after Caitlin Pike. Meg was transferred out for a classified mission and had not been heard from for several years. She was a blonde.

**Terry Coulter.** A forensic expert from Atlanta in Georgia. She had tried to hit on Harm once during a case in Arizona, but Harm had ignored it. Also a blonde.

**Jordan Parker**. A psychiatrist at Bethesda and also a blonde. She and Harm had broken up when Harm went back to flying. Jordan only wanted the lawyer and not the pilot.

**Renee Petersen**. She was a video director and had produced the new Navy advertisement that featured Harm. She had also hit on Harm, several times, but did not seem to get the message that Harm was not interested. Definitely a blonde. Mac called her the Video Princess.

And of course there was **Sarah Mackenzie.** Harm's current partner. While Mac was beautiful, she used her beauty to seduce a long string of lovers. As much as he was interested in Mac in the early stages of their partnership, Harm had observed that she was unable to show him any loyalty.

Harm and Mac had shaken hands on a baby deal in 1999 on the day young AJ Roberts was born. The deal was that in five years, if neither of them was in a relationship, they would go halves on a baby.

Unconsciously Harm was testing Mac's loyalty. Would she be willing to wait for him and be loyal to him? Harm was a great believer in loyalty. Sadly, Mac was unable to stay loyal. She aligned herself with Mic Brumby less than a year after the deal was made. Harm no longer had any reason to show Mac any loyalty, and as far as he was concerned, their baby deal was null and void. He just hadn't told her that yet.

The next day on the court room, Kate was testifying for the prosecution about how the then Captain Hollenbeck had kissed and groped her. Commander Mattoni stood up to attack her testimony. He asked her about the senior officer she had slept with in Okinawa when she was still a Lieutenant.

After the court session was over. Kate barreled out the door looking for whomever had spilled their guts. The only person she had told about the affair in Okinawa was Mac, and Kate was boiling mad. She confronted Mac in the ladies room where she accused Mac of passing on the information about her affair on Okinawa to Mattoni, and she did it to get Kate out of the way so that she (Mac) could have Harm.

"You are really reaching." Mac started in on her lecture. "You have a lot of nerve. I wasn't with you five minutes before you were telling me your secrets. I couldn't be the only one who knows about Okinawa. You're indiscreet. You have a big mouth."

Kate opened her mouth deny that.

Mac continued. "So shut it before you say something else I shouldn't hear."

Back in Harm's office, Kate explained that after she and Brockman had broken up, he had written a bad fitness report. Yes he was angry while he was writing it, but it was now a matter of public record. Kate didn't question being promoted early. She was just grateful that the poor fitrep had not ruined her chances.

After Hollenbeck had testified in court. Harm hit him with Kate's early promotions board just a few months after the incident. In the end the judge ruled against Kate saying that there was insufficient evidence for sexual harassment, and therefore she was not recommending that this incident be referred to court martial."

Just minutes later Harm and Kate were told by the Admiral Chegwidden that SECNAV had decided to rescind Hollenbeck's promotion to the IG office. Someone else would get that job. The promotions board matter was the tipping point. That was the main reason why the Judge had not ruled on the sexual harassment case.

At a party later that evening, Kate told Harm that she was turning down the Admirals offer to stay at JAG and that she was moving out of DC. As they said goodbye, Harm sighed.

"It would have been nice having you around." he said.

"Harm, the last thing you need is a third female to complicate your life." Kate laughed.

"Where do you get three?" Harm was shocked.

"Tracy, me and Mac."

"I'm not involved with Mac." Harm insisted.

But that didn't stop him from looking in her direction. Standing behind Mac was the women of his dreams - Tracy Manetti. She was loyal, funny, intelligent, witty, confident, honest and genuine. She had an exotic heritage, a positive attitude and an excellent taste in fashion when she was not in uniform. To put it mildly Tracy was an enigma, one he badly wanted to unravel.

Harm also knew he had to go slow in this relationship, both for his own peace of mind, and also because Tracy had mentioned having at least three older brothers, none of whom he had met, but any one of whom could challenge him.

Over the next few weeks, Harm was involved in a number of major cases including a collision between a Turkish ship and an American ship during a NATO exercise as well as the USS Cole bombing. Harm also spent some time on a Russian Submarine under the Barents Sea. Later that month, Harm was seconded as the acting JAG while the Admiral went on vacation.

All the while, he and Tracy had become closer in their relationship as well. They were spending every weekend and most week nights together, whenever Harm was not away on an investigation. Tracy may have been getting a little frustrated at how slow he was moving, but she stayed silent and she stayed loyal.

They continued having dates, going to movies, theatre plays and to art exhibitions as well as evenings out for dinner. Harm had still not met any of Tracy's family, nor had he crossed the line into intimacy yet. Tracy however was not in any hurry for the situation to become too personal until she and Harm got something permanent going. Quite frankly, Tracy was now looking for a commitment from Harm, but she knew she couldn't push him, so she waited, patiently.

April 2001

One evening in late April, Harm and Tracy had just returned from an evening out, when Harm noted the light flashing on his answer phone. It was a message from Jordan. She said she was back from Spain, and clearly she wanted to get back together with Harm.

Harm immediately went into damage control - and for him that meant ignoring the message.

"You want some wine?" he asked Tracy.

"Sure." she replied. "I think the elephant might want some too."

"What?" Harm was desperately trying to ignore the elephant in the room.

"The one you're ignoring." said Tracy as she wandered over to the telephone and pressed the 'last number dialed' button. "You just received a message from your old girlfriend, Harm. Call her back."

"What was it?" Harm grasped at straws. Maybe Tracy didn't get that number Jordan had left.

"555-2694?" Too late. Tracy already had it dialled and the speaker phone was ringing.

"Parker residence." the male voice answered.

"Hello. Is Lieutenant Commander Parker there, please?"

"Who am I speaking with, please?" the unknown voice asked.

" Commander Harmon Rabb."

"This is NCIS Special Agent Kenworthy, Commander. Are you a friend of hers?"

Harm paused and picked up the receiver, taking the call off the speaker phone. _What is NCIS doing at Jordan's place? This is not good_ "Yes, I am."

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Commander Parker is dead." Agent Kenworthy spoke.

Harm went into defensive node, he refused to say anything more to Tracy. She was a little hurt, but she knew he was just putting up a wall to prevent any emotional damage. Harm grabbed the message tape and went over to Jordan's apartment.

He immediately became a suspect since he was the last person that Jordan contacted before she died. NCIS later cleared Harm due to his alibi - he had been out on a date with Tracy at the time.

Harm insisted on a JAGman investigation because the NCIS team were not keeping JAG in the loop. He also asked the Admiral for permission to call in Terry Coulter as a forensic expert to determine the cause of death.

The NCIS soon determined that Jordan had killed herself but Terry's forensics determined that the gun powder residue on Jordan's hands did not match that scenario.

During this investigation, Tracy tried to keep Harm focused on his home life and on her, so that he couldn't brood over Jordan's death. They made plans to attend a theatre play, but Harm forgot because he was so caught up in trying to find Jordan's killer.

Tracy didn't get upset and go storming off down to the JAG office to berate him. That would be a juvenile attitude to take. Besides, Mac was not exactly her favourite person right now. And Tracy preferred to keep the inter-personal fighting to an absolute minimum.

Later that night Harm was on the couch thinking about Jordan, When Tracy interrupted him.

"I'm sorry, Tracy, I'm a thousand miles away. Just let me get through this, okay? I'll make it up to you."

"Do you get through things, Harm?" Tracy asked.

"Eventually." he sighed.

"What about your father?"

"That is resolved, Tracy, You know that.".

"Until next Christmas when you revisit the Wall? How about your flying career?"

"That's out of my system."

"Really? So when are your quals?" Tracy clearly had a tone of disbelief.

"In two weeks." Harm admitted, knowing that Tracy was right,. He still had not resolved his flying status. He kept up his flight status just to stay as a naval aviator, when he had already been kicked off the active status board because he was too old.

"How about Jordan? Why'd you guys break up?"

"Jordan broke up with me. When I got back from sea duty, I wanted to pick things up where we left off.  
She didn't think I could commit. No, actually she said she wanted a lawyer and NOT a pilot. A lawyer was safe, a pilot was not. She didn't wanna get pulled back in."

"Pull me in, Harm." Tracy begged.

"I just did that, Tracy." .

"No. No, you've made gestures. But there is so much of you that I don't know. I still don't even know what drives you? You share all these stories about your family members and your friends, but never about yourself. It would just be helpful to know how you grew into this person you are."

"I don't have that kind of insight into myself, Tracy." Harm knew that was a lie. He also knew that the last thing he wanted to tell Tracy about, was his teenage visit to Vietnam looking for his father. That would just confirm to her how obsessed he was, despite the fact that he had cried in her arms last year and grieved his father's death.

"Tell me about your childhood. I mean, did you? Did you wear braces? Did you cause a lot of trouble? Did you have an imaginary friend?"

"Tracy" Harm was getting annoyed. "I'm just really tired right now. I can't even think straight."

Tracy was getting frustrated now. They had been dating for almost a year, and he was just so afraid to talk and to commit. If this was what he was like when they weren't being intimate, she could imagine just how much worse it would be if they were intimate. Tracy was glad that she had not taken Harm to visit her parents and brothers. She was also glad that they had not yet become intimate. He was not ready for her family.

"Sorry to have bothered you Harm. I'm going home." Tracy got up, grabbed her purse and began walking away. Harm panicked. He did not want to lose this girl.

"Just give me a week, okay?" he begged.

"Do I have to die for you to commit to me?" Tracy asked and then closed the apartment door behind her.

A note in Jordan's date book mentioned a man whom she felt was becoming too obsessed with her and visiting her several times a week. Eventually it was discovered that Jordan had been killed by this man's jealous wife.

A few days later Harm received a letter on the mail from Jordan. It had been written the night she was killed because it referred to the voice mail message she had just left. This letter appeared to be an apology from Jordan for the way she had treated him about his going back to flying.

_I'm a better person for having known you. And I hope you feel the same way about me. I don't know what choices you've made. But I can only hope you're embracing them with the same confidence.  
My best wishes, always. Love, Jordan_.

Harm called Tracy and invited her over to watch a movie. They turned out to be home movies of Harm as a teenager. These were filmed by his mother at a dance for which Trisha was clearly a chaperone.

"That's me. That's Mary Kelly. I was 13. My mom filmed it. She found it a little while ago and sent it over."

"Do you remember all this?" Tracy asked.

"Like it was yesterday." whispered Harm.

"What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I wanted to dance with her."

"Then why were you just standing there?" asked Tracy gesturing at the movie.

Harm shrugged. "I don't know. But let's talk about that."

Harm spent the next several hours opening up and telling Tracy about his childhood, and what it was like growing up without a father. He even mentioned the trip to Vietnam when he was sixteen.

May 2001

A week later the Admiral threw an engagement party for Mac and Mic. While Harm had been sent an invitation, he was not inclined to go. Tracy did not wish to go either. So Harm sent back his regrets that he and his plus one would not be attending.

The next day after the party, Mac knocked on Harm's office door and asked to speak to him privately.

"Why did you not attend my engagement party?" she asked. "Does this have anything to do with Sydney or our baby deal.

"Mac. I was stupid, I never should have made that baby deal with you. I consider it to be null and void, especially since you accepted Brumby's ring. And I do not go chasing after women who are engaged and married. " Harm explained.

"And that's why you have been ignoring me since we got back from Australia?"

Harm nodded.

"But Harm, I am still your best friend, aren't I?" Harm did not like the petulant tone in Mac's voice.

Harm shook his head. "We are friends Mac, just like I am friends with everyone in this office, but we cannot be best friends any more. That role now belongs to Mic." There was a pause and then Harm spoke again.

"Do you love him?"

Mac got angry and immediately responded with her own question. "Do you love me?"

"I'm not marrying you, Mac. Do you love him?" Harm was patient.

Mac was angry that Harm did not say that he loved her. What she actually wanted was to marry Harm, mostly because he was tall and handsome, not because she really loved him. Mac didn''t realise that unconsciously, she wanted Harm as a trophy spouse. Mic was a second rate substitute.

"So will you be at my wedding?" Mac asked.

"No. I have to do my quals next weekend."

"Couldn't you just do your quals some other time?"

"Yeah, right - Six months from now." Harm grimaced

"Harm, you fly, maximum, two, three times a year. And for that you risk missing my wedding? No, the truth is you don't consider it important." Mac was very bitter that he would not be at her wedding.

Harm drew in a deep breath before speaking.

"First off, my quals were arranged long before you even set a date. Secondly, frankly, if you need me at your wedding to make it work, maybe you should reconsider who you're marrying."

Mac was shocked and angry as she stood up and stalked out of Harm's office. She went to commiserate with Harriet.

"He's not coming, Harriet. I've lost him."

"Lost who, ma'am?" Harriet asked.

"Harm. He did not attend my engagement party last night, and he won't be at my wedding either. He says he has to do his quals."

"We'll see about that!" Harriet was aghast at how poorly Harm were treating her. He was Mac's best friend after all.

Harriet stood up, marched across the bullpen and right into Harm's office, without knocking, and opened her mouth.

Harm spoke first. "Attention, Lieutenant" he barked

Harriet stood to attention and snapped her mouth shut. Harm waved for her to sit down in one of his chair.

"Harriet. You and Bud are good friends and I love being AJ's godfather, but I need you to stay out of my private life, and stop trying to match make and push Colonel Mackenzie and I together.

"You should have stopped doing that as soon as she came back from Australia with that friendship ring on her hand. I was raised to be a gentleman and to not go chasing after women who are engaged, married or otherwise spoken for. And that friendship ring Mac wore, meant that she was definitely spoken for.

"I expect you to also accept that I am no longer Mac's best friend. Her new best friend is the man she is going to marry."

Harriet looked at Harm with tears in her eyes. "But Sir. He is just not right for her. I don't trust him. You are the right person for Mac, Sir."

Harm shook his head. "No Lieutenant, I'm not. But if I can ask? Why do you insist on matching people up together?"

"Because I want you to be happy, sir, like I am." Harriet wailed.

"I am quite capable of finding my own happiness. And being an adult, I do not need any help, nor have I ever asked for any help. You really do need to stop interfering, Harriet."

Harm continued in his command voice. Harriet had heard Harm's command voice many times, but never directed towards her. "This is a direct order, Lieutenant. You will refrain from making ANY comments or passing in any gossip about me or my private life to anyone else in this office, past, present or future. You will also NOT spread any gossip about anyone else in this office either. Be warned that gossip can have a detrimental effect on the smooth running of the office. If I hear that you are spreading gossip about anyone in this office, including myself, I will have you up on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer, so fast your head will spin. That is all. Dismissed."

Harriet was in tears. She could only stand up, assume the brace, turn and walk out of the office. Once she got back to her desk, she collapsed and with her head in her arms on her desk and cried.

The following weekend, Harm shipped out to the Patrick Henry where he aced his quals despite the rudeness of the airlant LSO - one Commander Stacy Loftness - who claimed that Harm must have _pulled some big favors to get back into the air_ and that he, Loftness, did not want a _Washington Weenie _wasting his time.

The weather had gotten steadily worse while Harm was doing his qualifying traps, and once he had completed the traps, the storm turned ugly. There was absolutely no way for Harm and Skates to get off the Patrick Henry at all.

Harm made two phone calls. One to the Admiral to explain that he was stuck on the Patrick Henry and was unable to get back for the wedding. The second and longer phone call was to Tracy to apologise for having to break their date, because the storm cell prevented him from flying home safely. She agreed with Harm that it was far safer for him to stay on the Patrick Henry than to even attempt to fly home.

And so in late May 2001, Sarah Mackenzie was married to Mic Brumby. Mac was totally unable to stop things with a simple NO. For too long she had relied on others to make her decisions for her. Mic had told her what to do relating to their personal lives. He had manipulated her into accepting the ring in Sydney, and then manipulated her into switching it from the right hand to the left, at Xmas time. Mac did not understand that despite her mantra of _I'm a marine, I can take care of myself_, really she was totally unable to take care of herself on a personal level. Mac needed someone to tell her flat out what to do. After the ceremony and reception, they had departed for Australia for their honeymoon, by the time Harm flew back into town.

_A/N - Apologies for the Harriet bashing, but I have always detested her gossiping and her interference. She is LONG overdue for a serious warning by a superior officer to STOP interfering in other peoples personal and private lives._

_A/N - As there is NO Renee in this AU, I have substituted Tracy for most sightings of Renee in canon. _


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 3 - Part 1

_A/N - The life changing events that occurred between season 6 and 7, from May to October 2001 - AU - These events may take several chapters to get through, so please be patient. Thank you. _

_A/N 2 - Harm may sound OOC for parts of this chapter and the next, but this is all part of the story._

_A/N 3 - Apologies for the delay. There is a bit of writers block floating around, and some personal family issues as well. I can't promise when the next chapter will show up, but I assure you, it will. _

May 2001

After Mac resigned from JAG and the Marine Corps, Admiral Chegwidden was hard pressed to find some new lawyers to fill the gaps. One of the more seasoned lawyers, Commander Carolyn Imes, volunteered to go on a TAD to the USS Guadalcanal that was patrolling the Indian Ocean and also around Indonesia. During this TAD, some of the ship's crew, including Imes, got involved with a siege at the US embassy in Indonesia and Imes was responsible for saving several lives. After the six month TAD was over, Commander Imes was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal for her actions.

Meanwhile back home, Harm went about the business of being a JAG lawyer. He continued to date Tracy, and while he knew he was in love with her, he just could not find the right words to tell her how he felt. So he tried to show her by his actions. Most of their dates consisted of having dinner at each other's apartments and a lot of talking and getting to know each other.

Tracy decided that since Harm was making a real effort to open up to her, she needed to open up to him as well. So she persuaded Harm to request one or two extra days off in July - before or after July 4 - which ever days he could get - in order to go down and spend Independence day with her family. Her brothers didn't often get back home, but they always tried to get home at least three times a year - Independence day, Thanksgiving Day and Xmas. So Harm submitted his request for two days of leave.

Harm knew that for Tracy to decide to take him to meet the family meant she was getting serious and wanted to kick this relationship up a notch. If she was really serious, then he needed to do something to show that he was also serious as well.

The following day Yeoman Tiner was absent from his desk. "Rabb!" the Admiral called for his senior lawyer.

Harm double timed it to the Admiral's office and snapped to attention. "Commander Rabb reporting as ordered, Admiral"

Chegwidden waved a piece of paper at him.

"You are asking for two days leave around Independence Day. You got plans?"

"Yes, Sir. Taking Sarah down south to do some flying."

"Sarah?" asked the Admiral.

"My Stearman bi-plane, Sir."

"Oh, yes. You once took Mac for a flight and were forced to land and you got mixed up with some poachers. That plane?"

Harm nodded. "Yes Sir, that plane."

"Well that week should be a slow week. You have a lot of leave on the books that do need to be used up, so I am ordering you to take that entire week off. I'll note down that you have permission."

Harm smiled and braced to attention again. "Yes. sir. Thank you, Sir.

"Dismissed" the Admiral waved him out. Harm braced, turned and left the office.

Harm wondered if Tracy might have been able to get the whole week off as well. Back in his office, he called Tracy to ask.

"I could only get the two days after July fourth as leave. I still have to work the Monday and Tuesday before July fourth." Tracy was quite down in the dumps about that.

"That's OK." Harm commiserated with her. "I can keep myself quite busy for those days." They said their goodbyes and promised to see each other again for dinner at Harm's place since it was his turn to cook dinner.

Harm had plans to prepare for, so the rest of June passed pretty fast for him. He made reservations at Tracy's favourite Italian restaurant, and even hired a limousine to travel in. It was all about style. Harm knew that both he and Tracy came from wealthy families, and so he wanted to spoil her.

Sunday July 1, 2001

Harm and Tracy spent both Saturday and Sunday flying Sarah out of Leesburg airfield, just to make sure that she was airworthy for the three hundred kilometer trip down to Blue Ridge Regional Airport, out of Martinsville in Southern Virginia, and the nearest airfield to Tracy's family home.

On the way back home on the Sunday afternoon, Harm asked Tracy to dress up, as he was taking her out to dinner that evening and requested her to wear something really nice - _something that knocks my socks off, if you have anything_. Harm explained that he would be wearing a suit and tie.

"I'll pick you up at 1830 hours. I have reservations for 1900. Wear some comfortable shoes. We will be going dancing after we eat." Harm gave Tracy his full flyboy grin and Tracy couldn't help but notice the sparkle in his eyes. Even Harm was getting excited.

At 1830 hours on the dot, the doorbell of Tracy's apartment chimed, and she opened the door. Harm was stunned as his eyes slowly traveled from her face down over her svelte figure to her red Jimmy Choo Shoes, and back up again. Tracy was wearing a red and gold figure hugging ankle length gown with no sleeves and a mandarin collar. Her hair was done up over her head and held together with what looked like chopsticks. This had the effect of showing off her long neck and her lovely gold earrings.

"Tracy. You look - stunning!" Harm's full blown fly boy grin flashed across his face. He leaned forward to kiss her cheek.

"So do you, Harm." Tracy had never seen him in a suit before. When he was not wearing his uniform, Harm usually relaxed by wearing Jeans and T-shirts. While he looked wonderful in his summer whites and stunningly handsome in his dress blues, Harmon Rabb Junior was an absolute god when wearing a civilian suit. This was a black suit paired with an off-white shirt and a red tie that almost matched Tracy's dress.

Harmon held up his elbow. "Shall we?" he asked.

Tracy hooked her arm around his and replied. "Yes, Harm, we shall."

Tracy's second shock of the evening was the limousine and the third shock was having dinner at her all time favourite Italian restaurant, Al Tiramisu.

Dinner was wonderful, with all of Tracy's favourite dishes, as was the dancing afterwards. Finally when they stopped drinking wine and switched to coffee, Harm picked up Tracy's left hand and held it in his two hands, his thumb rubbing lightly over her knuckles.

"Tracy" he said. "You know I'm not particularly good with words, but I have two questions to ask you. I love you very much. I want to be with you and I am tired of travelling back and forth between your apartment and mine. I was wondering if you might be interested in moving into a new house with me? And if you agree to do so, would you do me the great honour of becoming my wife. Will you marry me?"

Tracy was shocked for the fourth time that evening. but she quickly got over her shock and nodded her head. A smile broke out across her face.

"Harmon Rabb, I love you very much and yes I would love to marry you, and yes, I would love to move in with you as well."

"Whew." Harmon sighed in relief, and lifted Tracy's hand to his lips to gently kiss her knuckles. Then he brought out a small jewellery box from his pocket and opened it.

"This is the Rabb family engagement ring. It's been handed down for several generations to every first born Rabb male to give to the woman he chooses to marry. There is also a matching wedding ring as well."

The engagement ring was yellow gold with a 1 carat diamond in the centre and ten smaller diamonds in a row, five on each side. Tracy held out her hand and Harm carefully pushed it onto her ring finger.

"Oh Harm, it's gorgeous. I love you so much." Tracy moved around the table so that she was sitting next to Harm in order to kiss him. Her lip stick was left all over his face.

"Now, when we go see your family, we have something to tell them. What kind of wedding would you like and how soon?" Harm asked.

"Small, and private, family and a few close friends, and as soon as possible."

"Would a month be enough time for you?" he asked. "How about Saturday August 11?" Tracy nodded. Harm continued. "Now, where would you like to get married?"

Tracy decide to give Harm a challenge. "On a beach at dawn or sunset."

Harm grinned again. "Done, and I know the perfect place. My parents home in California. They live on the beach at La Jolla just out of San Diego."

Tracy smiled. Her man was doing everything he could to make her happy and to give her the dream wedding she had always wanted.

"I know it seems like I am all business and talk, and no emotion right now, but I want to get this all out of the way for now, and then we can really relax and celebrate tomorrow and while we are down at your family's place. But I do love you very much. I just can't show it the way I would really like to show it, since we are in public right now." Tracy nodded.

This was Harm in _full steam ahead_ mode. She loved this decisive Harm who made rapid decisions - but she understood that when you are _flying a plane at Mach 2 with your hair on fire_, you don't have time to think about your decisions. You have to make a snap decision and stick to it.

"Good, then how about we go back to your place and celebrate our engagement together - just the two of us."

Tracy nodded, and wondered if there was a hidden meaning to that last question. There was one thing she did have to tell Harm, and she hoped that he would not be upset.

Back at Tracy's apartment, once they had closed the door behind them. Harm swept Tracy into his arms and his lips had crashed down onto hers. They drank deeply from each other. Harm's hands began caressing her through her dress, but it wasn't until she felt his hands running over her derriere, that she realised what his plans were.

Tracy ended the kiss and spoke firmly. "No, Harm, please. You have been absolutely wonderful, not pushing for the entire time we have been dating, and I am asking you to wait just a few more weeks until we are married. Please?"

Harm smiled and stilled his hands. "Of course we can wait, Tracy. I can handle waiting a few more weeks. But just so you know, I do plan on kissing you a whole lot more than I have done before. "

Tracy flung her arms around his neck, and kissed him back. "Thank you Harm. And yes you can kiss me any time you like."

The Week of Monday July 2, 2001

Harm had the week off. On the Monday he drove out to Leesburg airfield and spent most of the day making sure that Sarah was refuelled, in good flying condition, and that there were extra jerry cans of gas stored as well. He also took his golf bag out to the airfield with him and loaded it on Sarah. Tracy had mentioned that her father liked playing golf, and Harm thought that perhaps they might be able to have a game. Harm also revised his instrument ratings since he would be flying and landing in the dark.

Since the Pentagon would be securing two hours early on July 3rd, Tracy made sure that she was all packed on the Monday night with one Go bag. On Tuesday July 3rd, Harm rested and slept so that he was not tired while flying. He finished packing his Go bag, flung it into the Lexus, checked his flight plan one last time, and drove over to Tracy's apartment. He didn't have to wait long before she arrived home, parked and locked her car, changed her clothes, retrieved her Go bag from her apartment, placed it in the trunk of Harm's Lexus and they were both off to Leesburg.

While they were driving, Harm asked Tracy a rather strange question.

"Tracy, do you have any female relatives who might be on the prowl for a husband? Women seem to gravitate to me for some reason, and I need to know that I can act in a certain way to fend them off."

"What certain way, Harm?" she asked.

"My grandmothers family comes from Kentucky and I often spent a few weeks during the summer visiting them. I have sometimes found it convenient to pass myself off as a man of low education, somewhat simple minded, which meant I was pretending to be a lot slower on the uptake than I really am. It was very convenient for putting off the girls. If you have any female relatives who might be on the prowl, 'ah maiht be introducin' meself as Joe from Kin-tuck-ee'." This last said in a slow Kentucky drawl.

"Ooh, that sounds interesting." Tracy replied. "I can't wait to see Joe in action. As it happens, yes I do have a cousin, named Bianca, who has gone through three husbands and three divorces and last I heard she is on the prowl again. Her mother is my dad's very spoiled youngest sister, so Bianca has also been spoiled as well. Been given everything she ever wanted or asked for. Remember how I said that my mother and I have been discriminated against a lot? Well Bianca and her mother do most of that discriminating. They tend to stay away from my brothers and my father simply because they are men, but my mother and I have always been fair game."

"Well, I shall be your champion and protect you, sweetheart. But if this cousin Bianca is on the prowl and starts digging into me, Joe will be paying us a visit. Just giving you advance warning."

"What part of Kentucky is your family from?" Tracy asked.

"They live in Bluegrass country, mostly around Louisville. They own and run several horse stud farms, and other farms as well."

"Oh good, I rather like bluegrass music." Tracy smiled.

"Perhaps we can go visit sometime later this year." Harm smiled as he looked into the rear view mirror and changed lanes prior to exiting the Leesburg Pike and heading for the Leesburg airfield.

After parking and locking the car, and making sure it would be secure for the next five days. Harm and Tracy packed their bags into Sarah's luggage compartment, along with Harm's golf bag, and the extra jerry cans of gas, filled the tank with fuel, filed their flight plan - flying to Martinsville in Southern Virginia via Charlottesville - and by 1800 hours they were in the air and flying south. Tracy loved the idea of flying over land that she had driven over many times previously, but had never seen before from up this high.

They stopped for refuelling both plane and their stomachs in Charlottesville at 1930 before making the last longer hop, straight to Blue Ridge airfield in Henry County. Tracy called the Blue Ridge airfield from Charlottesville, only to discover that they had already closed for the evening according to the voicemail message.

So Tracy called her family and explained to her father that she and a friend were flying in late, and that Blue Ridge field was already closed. They were going to need some lights. Thomas Manetti promised to drive over to the airfield and turn on the runway lights. Being on the board of the airfield allowed him to have this privilege.

"We're in Charlottesville right now, Dad. We expect to take about 2 hours to get down to Blue Ridge - so maybe around 2200 hours arrival. We're flying a yellow Stearman bi-plane. Call sign is November one five three."

"November 153 due in around 2200 hours. Okey dokey kiddo, We will be on the lookout."

"Thanks, Dad." Tracy hung up her phone and turned back to Harm. "OK Harm. The airfield is already closed for the night but my Dad is going to drive to the field and turn on the runway lights for us. We need to buzz the field when we get there. Oh and there is no tower."

Harm nodded. "Let's go then." he said. He was always glad to get back into the pilots seat. He helped Tracy into her seat, and then climbed in himself.

As they took off, climbing to 2000 feet and heading South, Harm noted the time. Since it was now twenty hundred hours, or 8 pm in the evening, and in the middle of summer, the sun wouldn't set for at least another hour. Harm was a little concerned that he would be landing at a strange airfield in the dark. He told Tracy to keep an eye out for the city of Lynchburg in one hours time and then Blue Ridge another hour or so after that.

Tracy and Harm didn't talk much except for Tracy pointing out the lights of Lynchburg after just 50 minutes of flight time.

"We may end up getting to Blue Ridge around 2145. Will that be too early for your father?" Harm yelled to Tracy.

"I'll try and send him a text on my cell phone." she yelled back. Her text was somewhat cryptic. ETA BLUE RIDGE 2145. ANYONE HOME? A reply came back pretty fast. AT BLUE RIDGE NOW. LIGHTS ALREADY ON.

Tracy sighed with relief.

"Dad's already at the airport. The lights are on now, so we can use them to guide us in." She yelled back to Harm. He was most relieved to hear this news.

Half an hour later, two straight lines of white lights on the ground came into view and Tracy waved to get Harm's attention.

"Lights at 10 o'clock." She yelled, pointing to the 10 o'clock position.

Harm looked out, and then did one circle of the field so that he could get into position to make a landing.

On the ground, Thomas Manetti had heard the small plane circling the airfield. Knowing his daughter was on board, he grabbed some binoculars and watched the lights on the wings of this plane as the plane circled once to get into the right position and then glided in accurately and make a perfect landing on the field. Thomas was very impressed. Whoever this pilot was, and considering they were landing at a strange airfield in the dark, this pilot definitely knew what they were doing.

The terminal lights were also on, and Thomas waited as the plane taxied off the runway onto the taxiway and back towards the terminal. Waving a flashlight, he indicated for the pilot to follow him as he walked over to the General Aviation hanger where the plane would be staying for a few days.

As the plane engine was turned off, and the propeller finally stopped spinning, he heard a male voice mutter "Man, am I glad that's over. Next time, I am flying home during the daylight hours."

Then in a slightly louder voice, after some scrambling, came, "Thank you for flying Harm airlines. We will be departing this airfield at twelve hundred hours on Sunday so that we can be back in DC during DAYLIGHT hours! All passengers wishing to return to DC are required to be here by twelve noon on Sunday or they will miss their flight."

Thomas finally heard his daughters giggle and then her voice as she spoke out loud. "Daddy?"

"Yes, Sweetheart, I'm over here."

Thomas watched two pairs of feet walk around the back of the plane and then their owners finally came into view.

While Thomas Manetti was no slouch at 6 feet 1 inch, this young man towered above him.

"Dad, I'd like you to meet my fiance, Commander Harmon Rabb, United States Navy. Harm, this is my Dad, Thomas Manetti, Former Lieutenant, United States Navy."

Harm stuck out his hand. "Good to meet you, Sir.

Thomas didn't mean to be rude, but he was still gobsmacked at the word Fiance. "Engaged? You are engaged to be married?."

Tracy laughed."Yes, Dad, Harm and I are planning to be married. Pretty soon too. Maybe next month."

Thomas narrowed his eyes and looked at Harm. "Why are you marrying her so fast? Is this a shot gun wedding. Is there a reason you need to get married so fast?" And turning to Tracy, he demanded to know."Are you pregnant, Tracy? I thought we taught you better than that!"

Tracy stepped back, her eyes round with shock. Her dad had never raised his voice with such horrible accusations before. Harms arms immediately encircled her for safety, and he thundered in his command voice. "Mr Manetti!"

The only reason Thomas didn't jump to attention was because he was too shocked at the voice of command he was listening to. Harm continued. "I love your daughter very much and she has asked me to NOT be intimate with her until our wedding. I assure you we have not slept together at all. We are getting married next month, because we love each other, we have both been alone for far too long and we want to spend the rest of our lives together. Tracy has told me nothing but good things about you, and yet you start straight in with the accusations without even getting the full story. I sincerely hope the rest of our visit is not going to be like this."

What was going through Thomas's head was admiration and the thought that- _This man could be an Admiral one day. And my daughter will be married to him. I hope I'm there to see it_.

What Thomas actually said was, "I do apologise, Commander, you are absolutely right. Tracy, I am truly sorry for being such a horrible dad and giving you the third degree. I should understand and accept that you are an adult and that you can be trusted to make your own decisions. Will you forgive me?"

Tracy stepped forward to hug her father and accepted his apology. Bags were quickly removed from the Stearman and transferred to the family SUV. Thomas's eyes brightened when he spotted a bag of golf clubs.

"You play golf, Commander?" Thomas asked.

"Yes, Sir. My handicap is 10. And please call me Harm. I am OFF duty while I am down here."

"OK. Harm it is then." The rest of the drive back to the Manetti family home was made in silence. Thomas checked his rear view mirror to see what his daughter and her tall Commander were doing in the back seat. Other than holding hands and Tracy leaning her head on Harm's shoulder, they behaved themselves perfectly.

Thomas nodded. _He truly is an officer and a gentleman. Tracy really is in very good hands_. Thomas relaxed and vowed that he could trust this almost-new son-in-law with his daughters happiness. He would not make any more accusations and would get to know the man as a friend. A game of golf would be a very good start.

Thomas spoke up again. "So, Harm. What exactly do you do in the Navy?"

"I'm a lawyer Sir, just like Tracy is. She's at the Pentagon and I am at JAG H.Q."

"And how did you meet, if I can ask?"

Harm had a rueful expression on his face. "I was running late to a meeting at the SECNAV's office and I plowed into Tracy coming around a corner. She had her arms piled high with folders and I knocked them all to the ground. All I could do was to ask for her office number and promise to come and help her fix them all up after my meeting was over. So that's what I did. This was late last year, so we have been dating for nine months at least."

"Can I ask when you proposed?"

"Two days ago, on July 1st. And as Tracy says, we will be getting married as soon as possible. Probably August 11. That is a Saturday. As for where. Tracy wants the beach at sunset or sunrise, so the wedding will probably be in California at my parents home. They live on the beach at La Jolla."

Thomas nodded. "Good, good. Let me know if there is anything we can do to help."

"Thank you." Harm smiled.

Tom Manetti eventually turned the car into a long driveway, lined with trees, and after a few minutes the house emerged with all the lights still on.

"It's late. Why is everyone still up?" Harm asked.

"Everyone wants to meet the man I am bringing home. I have never ever brought any man home to visit before. So they figure this must be serious." Tracy explained.

Harm's eyes widened. "So I am being thrown into the lions' den. With no warning?"

Tracy patted him on the arm."Just be your normal usual self, and you will be fine. Just remember, I have five brothers, three of whom are lawyers. They are probably going to want to interrogate you."

As Tom Manetti brought the car to a halt and switched off the engine, he spoke. "Welcome to Casa Manetti, Mr. Rabb."

Several tall men swarmed around the car. Both the back doors were opened, hands reached in and voices were asking all kinds of questions.

"Tracy, where are you?"

"So Tracy, Dad says you are bringing a man home."

"He better be good enough for us, Tracy, or he is dead meat."

"Is that any way to welcome a stranger to the family?" came a loud voice from further back. A female voice with an accent. "Shut up, all of you. Give them some room. Let them get out of the car."

The men stepped back, finally giving Harm and Tracy some space to move out of the car and stand up.

As Harm stood up, he was shocked by the expressions on several male faces. Faces that looked just like Tracy's. As Harm stood up to his full height, it was clear that none of Tracy's brothers were as tall as he was. The tallest one was lucky to reach maybe six feet two inches. The others were all three to four inches shorter than Harm.

After a few seconds of silence, there was a whistle.

"Wow Tracy. I know you said he was tall, but you never said he was a skyscraper."

"Oh, Shut up Alex." came that other female voice with the accent again. The men parted to allow a Japanese woman to walk up to Harm and Tracy. She greeted her daughter first with a hug and a kiss. Then she turned to Harm.

This women, who clearly was Tracy's mother and therefore Harm's future mother in law, was a fiery woman. Harm could see that in her eyes. She was not afraid to tell her sons when to shut up. She was also the shortest person in the entire family. At five feet four inches, Tracy was of average height for women. Tracy's mother was even shorter then her daughter. Actually Mika reminded Harm very much of his grandmother, Sarah Rabb.

Thrusting out a hand, Mika spoke."Hello. I'm Mika Manetti, Tracy's mom. And you are...?"

"Oh. I'm Harmon Rabb, Junior, ma'am. But everyone calls me Harm. And, like Tracy, I am a lawyer in the United States Navy." Harm shook her hand. She had a nice firm grip.

"Ack." Mika snorted."Don't give me any of that ma'am stuff. Makes me feel old and I don't need to feel old before I'm ready for it. You can call me Mom or Mika. Now lower altitude, young man. I can't reach you from down here."

Harm bent down and Mika hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Welcome to the family Harmon. Did you give Tracy that stunning new ring she is wearing? Although that ring sure does look old. And it is on her ring finger."

The brothers all gasped and looked at Tracy, who smiled and hid her hands behind her back.

"Come on, sis. Let's see this ring, Please?" they pleaded and cajoled.

"Yes, Mika. I am in love with Tracy. I have asked her to marry me. She has agreed. Her ring is a Rabb family heirloom. My grandfather gave it to his fiance, my father to his future wife and now it's my turn to give it to the woman I love." Harm held out an arm, and Tracy immediately came to his side and snuggled in. She fit in so well, as though she had always been there. Now it was time to acknowledge her engagement, and so with a big smile, Tracy held out her hand so that her brothers could see and admire the ring.

Several wolf whistles floated through the air.

"Cool ring, Tracy." said one brother.

"Now that is a lovely ring. Rabb, I approve. Your grandfather sure had good taste." another sibling announced.

"Thank you." said Harm with a grin."Now, which one are you?"

"That is so rude of us. None of us have been introduced, have we? Well let me remedy that right now." He stuck out his hand for Harm to shake. "I'm Alessandro, the oldest, but everyone calls me Alex."

He turned around to his brothers and grabbed one by the arm to stand beside him, and continued speaking.

"This is my twin brother, Antonio, or Tony. We two run the farm and the business side of this outfit." Tony and Harm shook hands.

Alex indicated the remaining three brothers. "Those three are the enemy. They work for the enemy. Doing everything they can to destroy us."

Harm knew they worked as lawyers for various different anti-tobacco outfits. Harm nodded his head. Alex was surprised that this new man in Tracy's life understood that. He smiled as he looked at Tracy. She was the baby of the family, and the only daughter.

"Tracy is welcome here any time. She has chosen to follow Dad and serve her country. She is a very loyal member of this family."

One of the unknown brothers wandered over with a questioning look on his face.

"Hi Harm, I'm Mike. Dad says you flew down here, from DC. In an old bi-plane? Are you a pilot?"

"Yes I am." Harm was quite matter of fact about all his flying accomplishments. He didn't see any of it as doing anything special. It was all just part of his job.

The remaining brothers crowded around Harm and bombarded him with questions.

"Do you fly a Cessna, a Piper or a Cherokee?"

"Do you fly anything else?"

"Do you fly a Lear jet?"

"Do you fly for the Navy?"

"And what planes do you fly in the Navy, if you do?"

One brother interrupted."He can't fly for the Navy. He said he was a lawyer like Tracy."

_This is what Tracy calls an interrogation? They sound like boys, not men._

Harm looked at Tracy and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged.

Despite the fact that all of Tracy's brothers were actually older than him in age, none of them had command experience. So Harm put his rank to good use.

"QUIET!" he barked in his Command voice. The brothers stopped their questions with looks of shock and surprise on their faces. Harm continued speaking. "I will answer your questions one at a time, so please give me the courtesy of speaking." Harm waited until each of the brothers had acknowledged his request and then Harm spoke again.

"My plane is an old Stearman bi-plane, similar to those flown during world war one. It belonged to my grandfather who was a Naval aviator in world war 2. He died at Midway Island. My father grew up to become a Naval aviator. He went MIA in Vietnam and his whereabouts are still unknown. I am also a Naval aviator. I had a ramp strike, several years ago and was forced to switch to becoming a lawyer so now I do both. I fight legal battles. I fly F-14 Tomcats for the Navy and I fly my bi-plane whenever I am off duty. I have also flown both a Lear jet, and a Boeing 747. I passed my privates pilots license in a Cherokee when I was 17 years old. I have not flown a private plane since then. The only thing I don't fly is a helo. I leave that to my brother. Now are there any other questions?" There were no replies.

Mika moved in to make an announcement. "We have been out here for long enough. Time to move this indoors, children." She was very impressed with her daughters choice of a husband. Here was a man who was more than capable of standing up to her sons and holding his own.

As Harm and Tracy moved past Mika to enter the house, she patted him on the arm and whispered. "Well done, Harmon Rabb. Very well done."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 3 - Part 2

_**Authors Note**__ - Most stories have to have some kind of conflict in them, and in this AU, I am giving Harm and Tracy the conflict of Racism within Tracy's family to deal with - together. _

July 4, 2001 - Independence Day

Manetti House - Martinsville - Virginia

It was the sound of the telephone ringing that dragged Harm up out of his deep sleep. He reached his arm out over the side looking for the telephone, and then wondered why there was no phone there.

"Huh?" Harm opened his eyes to find himself looking at a high white ceiling and not his usual low dark bedroom. That was when the events of the previous day came flooding back into his memory and now he knew where he was. Harm was in the downstairs guest room of his fiancee's family home.

Harm swung his legs out of bed, gathered up his clothes and shaving kit and headed for the bathroom that had been pointed out as being right next door to the bedroom. After a shower and a shave and some clean clothes. Harm felt ready to face Independence day.

As Harm opened the bathroom door, he came across Tracy standing outside with arms folded and tapping her foot. Smiles lit up both their faces. Neither of them saw Tracy's parents standing underneath the stairs watching them.

"Good morning, my love." Harm spoke first as he moved past her to his bedroom and dumped his towel and kit on the bed. Tracy followed, but did not shut the door. Then he gathered Tracy up in his arms, lifted her up so that her face was on the same level as his, and he kissed her deeply. Tracy's feet were off the ground for almost an entire minute. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck as they greeted each other.

A clearing throat at the bedroom door was the one thing guaranteed to break up their kiss. Harm reluctantly ended the kiss and slowly lowered Tracy to the floor. They both looked towards the door. Tracy's father was standing there. He had a frown on his face. Tracy frowned at her father, grabbed Harm's hand and pulled him towards the kitchen.

Entering the kitchen, Harm found several boxes of cereal on the table and one of Tracy's brothers at the stove making pancakes.

"Morning, Harm, Tracy." He was using a spatula to add more pancake dough to the pan.

Tracy introduced Harm to yet another unknown brother. "Harm, This is Rafael, or Rafe, my youngest brother. He is just 3 years older than me. And yes, he is one of the lawyers."

Rafe waved the spatula as a greeting and set about turning over the pancakes he was cooking. Once that was done, he turned around to shake Harm's hand. "Welcome to this crazy family, Harm. As you can see, I'm making pancakes. You want some? Otherwise just help yourself."

Harm held out a plate in silent supplication for pancakes and Rafe piled them high. "Say when." he laughed. When the pile was high enough, Harm nodded and sat down at the table to begin eating. Rafe finished piling his plate with pancakes and sat down opposite Harm. Tracy filled up a bowl of cereal and milk and sat down beside Harm.

"So what's on the plans for today?" Tracy asked.

"BBQ at the Chatmoss club starting at 6 pm, with Fireworks at 9 pm. Please be there. Otherwise it's a free day today." Mika spoke up as she entered the Kitchen.

"Will there be anything vegetarian or should I bring my own vege burgers? " Harm asked. "I don't eat red meat."

"They usually tell us to advise them if there are any special dietary requests, so it won't be any problem for me to call the organisers and let them know. " Mika smiled as she spoke.

"Thank you, Mika." Harm was grateful that this would not be a problem.

"Great." exclaimed Tracy. Turning to Harm she cocked an eyebrow and asked. "Harm, if you would like to saddle up, I can take you on a ride around the trails of Henry County today. How does that sound?"

Harm nodded. "That's fine with me, Tracy." he agreed, pushing his empty plate away.

"So, mom, Harm and I are going to drive over to Axton and go riding. I promise, if you don't see us earlier, we will be at Chatmoss by 1800 hours, ok?

"That will be fine, dear." Mika replied giving her daughter a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "Have fun, you two."

As Harm and Mika had been speaking, a group of teenagers and young adults wandered into the kitchen, helped themselves to plates, cereal, milk and spoons and disappeared into another room.

"Who were all those teenagers?" Harm asked.

"My nieces and nephews. Come on, I will introduce you. They need to know who you are anyway." Tracy replied. Harm followed his fiancee into what looked like a formal dining room.

Greetings broke out from all of them.

"Hey Aunt Tracy."

"Who's the hunk, Aunt Tracy? "

"Are you going to marry him, Aunt Tracy?"

"Was he the one yelling for Dad and the uncles to shut up last night?"

Harm blushed red on being the topic of such interest to a group of teenagers.

Tracy nodded and smiled. "Hey guys. This is Harmon Rabb, my fiance. He is a lawyer and also works for the Navy, just like me, but we work in different places. We are getting married next month, and yes David, he was the one yelling for your dad and the uncles to be quiet last night."

Tracy turned to Harm. "Harm, these are the older children of my brothers. There are other younger children around, but they're probably still upstairs or asleep."

To the children she said, "Please put your hands up when I mention your dad's name, OK? Alex?" Four hands shot up.

"Harm, These are Alex's children - Samuel or Sam, Alexandra or Lexi, Stephen or Steve (who as you can tell is Sam's identical twin brother), and Charlotte or Charlie. OK next, Tony!" Three hands shot up.

"These are Tony's children. David, Michael and Elizabeth or Liz. Who's next? Mike?" Another three hands shot up.

"Mike's children, Andrea, or Andy, Peter and Jonathan. Dominic?" Two hands were raised.

"These are Dom's 2 oldest children, Matthew and Mark, also identical twins. There are more upstairs. And lastly Rafael." The last two hands were raised.

"These are Rafe's two oldest daughters, Donna and Gabrielle. Again, there are more children upstairs. Thanks kids. As you were." The young adults all went right back to eating and talking.

Tracy and Harm left the noisy dining room and sought some solitude in the kitchen as Tracy gathered together some snacks and drinks. She called the Stables to reserve 2 horses and they finally left the house around 1030 hours.

After collecting their horses and saddling up, Tracy and Harm spent a lovely half day clip clopping along country lanes around Henry County, trying to avoid the main roads as much as possible. They even wandered up as far as Tracy's old school and the Chatmoss Country club, where they would be watching fireworks later that evening. Eventually they returned to the Stables by 1600 hours.

"We have two hours to kill before we have to be at Chatmoss. What do you want to do next?" Tracy asked.

Harm asked Tracy to find a place where they could stop and make a phone call.

"I need to call my parents and tell them that I am engaged and that we want to get married on their beach. " he explained.

Tracy pulled into a local car park for a hardware store that was closed for the holiday. Harm dialled his mother's home in La Jolla.

Frank answered the phone."Burnett Residence" he said quietly.

"Hi Frank, it's Harm. Happy Independence day. Could you get Mom onto the extension phone, please? I have some news for both of you."

Trisha was picking up the extension in a matter of seconds.

"Harm? What is it dear? Are you OK? You know I haven't heard from you since Christmas. You really should call more often."

"I know, Mom, I know. I don't call you enough and I really should call you more often. But right now I have some big news."

"You're leaving the Navy?" Trisha asked.

"No, mom. I need a few more years to get my pension yet. No. I am engaged to be married."

"Married? Really? That's wonderful dear. To whom? To Mac?" Trisha asked with a hopeful tone.

"No, Mom sorry, but Mac was not right for me at all. Besides she is now married herself. She has also left the USA to be with her new husband."

"When did this happen?" Trisha asked?

"When did what happen, Mom?" Harm was getting frustrated. "Mac getting married or my getting engaged?"

"Um, both?" Trisha asked.

Trisha then heard a muffled voice asking when was he on the, it sounded like the PH? Trisha wondered what that was.

"Mom, Mac got married in May and I got engaged four days ago on July 1st."

"To whom, Harm? Who will be joining our family?"

"Her name is Tracy Manetti. She is a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy, and a lawyer like me. Oh and she works at the Pentagon."

"This is all rather sudden, son. How long have you known this young lady, Harm?" Frank interrupted to ask.

"I met her at the Pentagon when I came back from flying last year. She says it was October 2000 when we met."

"Manetti. That sounds Italian. Is she Italian? Where does she come from? What do her parents do? " Trisha jumped back into the conversation with a whole lot of questions.

"Her father is a third generation American of Italian ancestry. She comes from Southern Virginia and her parents are farmers."

"May I speak to Tracy?" Trisha asked. Harm offered the phone to Tracy. "Do you want to have a chat with my mom?" Harm asked. Tracy nodded. _Might as well get this over with._

"Hello?" Tracy spoke into silence on the phone.

"It's Tracy, right?" a male voice responded.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I'm Frank Burnett, Harm's stepfather. You can call me Frank."

"And I'm Trisha Burnett, Harm's mother. You can call me Trish." Trisha interrupted again. "Harm says you're from Southern Virginia? And that your parents are farmers? Can I ask what they grow or run on the farm?"

"Tobacco. My brothers are the fourth generation of Manetti's growing tobacco on the family farm."

Trisha disapproved of smoking, so she was not sure how to respond to this.

Frank, being the business man that he was, stepped in with a business related question.

"Yes Tobacco was a hugely profitable cash crop back in the 1800s. I've often wondered how much of an economically viable crop it still is, in this present day and age?"

"The demand certainly has dropped." Tracy responded. " Our crops are somewhat smaller than they used to be. The profit margin is rather a lot less than it was in the 18th century as well." She was most grateful to Frank for getting over that awkward bump - the one that always arose whenever anyone discovered that her family grew tobacco.

Trisha surged back with another question . "So when and where are you getting married? Have you made any plans yet?"

"I'll hand you back to Harm so he can discuss those details with you." Tracy gave the phone back to Harm, and said, "Your mom wants to know when and where."

"Mom? Tracy wants to get married on the beach. I was wondering if we could get married at your place? Next month. Saturday August 11th. Tracy wants to be on the beach at sunset or sunrise. If I remember rightly, the sun usually sets around 7 pm in August. I was thinking maybe we can do the reception dinner first at 3 or 4 pm and have the wedding on the beach at 7 or 7.30, depending on when the sun is due to set. Tracy and I will fly out on Friday night. Not sure about a honeymoon yet. We need to both ask for the time off first. But I do have some ideas. Attendants? Not sure. Hang on and I'll ask. " Harm placed his hand over the phone and asked.

"Mom wants to know if you plan on having any attendants, bridesmaids, etc?"

"Maybe one attendant? I haven't asked her yet. A friend at the Pentagon. " Tracy replied.

Harm spoke into the phone again. "She says maybe one attendant. I'll try and find Jack. I would love for him to be my best man. What was that Mom? Clergy? Hang on I'll ask."

Harm turned to Tracy again. "Do you want Clergy? If yes what denomination. If no then Mom would like to offer to find a non-religious celebrant. She knows a few who live locally."

"I'm not terribly religious. I think a celebrant will be fine, and yes, if you think she will find a good one, that's fine." Tracy smiled.

"Also Mom and Frank want to do the catering for the reception ." Harm put his hands up in surrender. "I know, I know. That is usually the brides prerogative, but this is La Jolla, and Mom and Frank DO know the area."

"Again, probably a good idea." Tracy agreed, "Especially if they can find us a place at such short notice."

"Sorry Frank, what was that?" Harm spoke into the phone again. "Darlington House? You got us into Darlington House for 3 pm on August 11? That is wonderful, Frank. Thank you so much. Look I gotta go. We have a BBQ and a fireworks celebration to attend this evening. I will chat to you guys again, tomorrow." Harm snapped shut his phone.

"Whew. Thank goodness that's over. But we certainly have made some great progress.

"What's Darlington House?" Tracy asked.

"Darlington House is an old mansion in La Jolla, not far from our home. It was built in the 18th century and is now on the California State Historical Register. It's used for weddings, receptions, conferences and such like. There is always a long waiting list, so for Frank to get us in, with just five weeks notice, is excellent work. I think the 3 pm time helped, because not many receptions are starting at that time. That's usually when the weddings are on. Now, does your country club have a computer room? I'd like to get a photo taken of the two of us, that we can email to Mom and Frank."

Tracy nodded her head. "Yes there is a computer room. You would not believe the number of businessmen who come to play golf, but must also conduct some business while they play!"

By the time Harm and Tracy arrived at the club, Mika and Thomas Manetti were already there and helping to set up the BBQ. Mika took several photos of her daughter and future son-in-law, after which Tracy and Harm spent some time in the computer room composing a letter to Harm's parents and attaching a couple of good photos to the email. Finally it was sent off.

After the BBQ began, Tracy introduced Harm to last missing brother - also a lawyer - and one whom he had not yet met. His name was Dominic. "Now you've met them all." Tracy stated as she steered Harm to a bench to sit down. "I'll go and find us some drinks. The food is not quite ready yet." Harm sat down and Tracy went off to find drinks.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, unbeknownst to both Harm and Tracy, a conversation was going on.

"Oh My Gosh. Who is that tall hottie sitting over there? He is gorgeous. I might just try and snap him up." Bianca gushed to her friends.

"What if he is not available?" One friend had seen him with Tracy and was trying to warn Bianca.

"Who cares about that. I can have any hottie I want. And I want him. " Bianca had never been refused by any man before. The friend persisted in warning Bianca.

"What if he says no?" she asked

"He won't." Bianca could be very stubborn when she wanted something that was unattainable. She also had no problems with flirting either. "Noone ever says no to 'mwa'."

She sashayed over to Harm and sat down next to him, placing one hand lightly on his thigh. She did not notice Harm's face moving into his dumb hick persona.

"Hi there, I'm Bianca. Who are you? " She looked up at Harm's face with a pout on her lips, and a look of lust in her eyes.

"Ahm Joe." replied Harm with a strong Kentucky accent.

"And where are you from, Joe?" Bianca asked.

"Ahm from Kin-tuck-ee." Harm continued with the charade.

"And what are you doing here, Joe?" Bianca continued her interrogation.

"Ah was invited along to this here shin dig by one of them fellows over there." Harm nodded to Tracy's brothers, "Caint remember their name rightly, but Ah think it was something like Spaghetti."

Bianca walked her fingers along Harms jeans clad thighs, moving toward his privates. His hands came up and grabbed hers.

"Ah, Miss, you really don't want to do that. As pretty as you might be, I just don't swing that way. I much prefer a tight cockpit and a stick to prime it with."

Bianca's mouth dropped and she stood up. "Well you might have said something." she huffed. "Why is it that all the good looking men are already taken?" Bianca stomped off back to her friends.

"Crashed and burned, huh Bianca?"

"He's gay. Such a waste of a hottie." Bianca whined.

"Are you sure he's gay? I don't think he's gay. Maybe he's bi-sexual?"

"What do you mean?" Bianca demanded.

"Well, he is kissing Tracy." the friend explained, gesturing back towards Harm.

Bianca turned around only to see the tall hottie named Joe with Tracy in his arms, and he was most definitely kissing her. Bianca stomped back across the room.

"Hey Tracy, get your hands off him. This hottie is MINE. " Bianca was not happy that her cousin Tracy was stealing her man. Tracy ignored Bianca until the kiss was forced to end for lack of oxygen, before she spoke.

"Really, Bianca? He's yours? Do you know his name? Does he know that he is supposed to be yours?

"I found him first, finders keepers".

"Sorry Bianca, but I found him long before you did. He is mine." Tracy replied, still standing in Harm's strong arms.

"Wow, Tracy. You was right. I ain't never had 2 women fighting over me before." 'Joe' spoke up.

Bianca grabbed onto Harm's arm, and started yelling.

"Joe. Why are you kissing her. She ain't even a real american. Look at her with them slanty eyes and all. She don't deserve to have a fine American like you. I found you first. Besides you said you were gay. But if you are bi, that's ok with me." Unknowingly. Bianca also slipped into a lower class dialect.

"Nope. I didn't say nothing about being gay. I said I like a tight cockpit with a stick to prime it with."

"Yeah? So?" Bianca huffed. "Those are very subtle references to what you want to do with a man."

"Everything OK over here?" came the not-so-friendly voice of Tracy's oldest brother Alex. "Bianca, you are yelling quite loudly. And you might want to stop with the racist comments too. There are some people who don't give a damn that Mom was not born in the USA. You know perfectly well that we kids were all born here.

"I found him first, and he's gonna be mine."

Alex's eyes twinkled. He loved to make his selfish cousin Bianca, the joke of the party.

"Don't you think that he might want to have some say in who he dates ? For all you know, he may already be married or engaged."

'Joe' spoke up. "That's right, Miss, I am actually engaged to be married, so I am not available to anyone else other than my fiancee."

"And who is that? Why is she not here with you? And why were you kissing Tracy? I'm going to tell your fiancee that you were kissing another woman." Bianca placed one hand on Harms arm, with the clear

intention of claiming him.

The next second Tracy's hand was in her face and Bianca could not avoid seeing the engagement ring on Tracy's ring finger.

'Joe' spoke up again. "Tracy is my fiancee."

Bianca was furious. "A hunk like you is marrying that gook? You have got to be joking-"

Bianca did not get a chance to say anything more. Tracy's oldest brother Alex threw her over one shoulder, fireman style, and marched through the club, in full view of all the members, down the stairs, and dumped her on the yard outside, beside her car.

"Go home, Bianca. We are all sick and tired of your racist comments. Tracy has found herself a good man, and YOU are not going to spoil things. Oh, and by the way, you and your mother are NO LONGER welcome at our house for as long as it is owned by Manetti's. That means you are both persona non grata. Goodbye."

Alex turned and walked back into the Club building. Upon entering the foyer, Tracy, Harm and the rest of his family gathered around him, applauding his actions.

Outside Bianca was ranting and raving. "I have never been so humiliated in all my life." she yelled. She charged back up the stairs and flung open the doors. Only to find the entire Manetti family standing in a line across the foyer with arms crossed.

Mike spoke up. "Dad, I know Maria is your sister, but really, we have all had enough of their snide comments about how Mama is just not good enough for you. Mama is the best and it's long past time we stopped allowing those kinds of comments to be made about anyone in our family. I think this family needs to obtain a restraining order against both Aunt Maria and Cousin Bianca. "

Turning to Bianca, Mike continued, " You and your mother, cannot be within 100 feet of ANY member of this family anywhere in the states of Virginia, and North Carolina. That includes the in-laws and the grandchildren as well."

"What about him? Did you know he was gay?" Bianca pointed her finger at Harm.

Now it was Tracy's turn to defend her fiance. "He is not gay. He is a pilot. If you don't know what a cockpit is, then perhaps you need to go back to school."

It was totally out of character for Tracy to be so blunt, but she was prepared to keep her man and not allow Bianca to get her hooks into him. Thus drastic measures were called for.

Bianca turned to her uncle Thomas with a pout on her lips. She has always been able to manipulate him into undoing any actions or ignoring any complaints his family had mentioned about her. Thomas shook his head.

"Not this time, Bianca. This time I agree with my sons. You and your mother are no longer welcome at our house. I should have done this a long time ago, but Maria is my sister, and I was raised to treat sisters nicely. No more. You cannot get away with making any more racist comments against my wife and my family. And I will sign the restraining order as well. In the states of Virginia and North Carolina, you and your mother must keep 100 feet away from ALL members of this family. You can no longer enter our property for any reason whatsoever. If we find you on our property, you will be charged with trespassing. "

As Thomas spoke, other club members were slowly moving to stand behind the Manetti family. Some did so in support of their actions, and others just to see and hear what was going on.

Bianca was extremely upset, angry and humiliated. She turned around, and pushed her way out of the doors, got into her car, and the tires screeched as she tore off down the driveway.

Club management slowly managed to break up the crowd and to encourage everyone back into the dining hall, and an hour later, everyone was encouraged to go out onto the patio in order to see the fireworks display.

It was a very tired Harm who snuggled into his bed in the guestroom of the Manetti house later that night.

Thursday July 5, 2001

Despite the Bianca incident marring their July 4 celebrations, Harm and Tracy had a wonderful time with the family over the weekend.

Tracy drove Harm all over Henry County and even to the town of Danville in the County next door, so that Harm really got to know her home region. Harm also met all of Tracy's nieces and nephews on a more personal level. They all ranged in ages from 25 down to 5 years old.

The restraining order against Thomas's sister Maria and her daughter Bianca was drawn up and served to them by the county sheriff. The sheriff's office also received a copy as well.

Friday July 6, 2001

In Friday, Mika, Tracy and Harm all got up early to drive across the state line to visit Greensboro in North Carolina, which was only one hour's drive away.

This trip was happening so that Mika and Tracy could scout out some bridal shops and get some ideas for her wedding dress. Tracy could easily have looked at magazines and online, but she loved the idea of checking out the latest fabrics and dress designs with her mother.

Harm had never visited Greensboro, and he was going to just spend a few hours exploring the town on his own, while the girls did their retail therapy. He planned on visiting several historical museums, some of which told the history of Greensboro and North Carolina.

The trio arrived in Greensboro at nine AM on a sunny Friday morning. They found an all day parking spot and made arrangements to meet back at the car several hours later - at 4pm.

Harm enjoyed himself visiting the Greensboro Cultural Centre and the Historical museum, as well as the Battle of Guilford Courthouse - which was on the site of a major battle during the Revolutionary War. A battle that occurred in 1781.

Tracy and Mika spent their day wandering around several bridal shops and wedding departments of several large department stories. Tracy wanted a white dress, but she had trouble finding the perfect one.

It was not until three o'clock in the afternoon, that Tracy began panicking. There was barely an hour to go and she still had not found the right dress yet.

So she and Mika sat down with a bridal consultant at yet another bridal shop. Tracy was asked just two questions to narrow down her choices.

"Why do you want to wear white, Tracy? " was the first question.

Tracy blushed. "Well I have never slept with a man. My fiance, my new husband, will be the first man I have ever slept with. But I am not sleeping with him until our wedding night. I really want a white dress, but I also want some pizzazz. I don't know any other way of explaining it."

The consultant smiled and dug through her albums of photos to find a small album. "I think I know exactly what you mean by pizzazz. You want to have a dash of colour that adds to the dress, but doesn't take away the meaning of the white dress."

"Yes!" Tracy nodded, "That sounds exactly right."

The consultant spoke up again. "One more question. Do you wants sleeves, strapless or a halter neck?"

"Strapless gown with a very small train. No flounces, frills or lace. I'd like to keep it simple. " Tracy mused.

The consultant went through the small album and then stopped at one page. Slowly she turned it towards Tracy and Mika.

There on the double page spread was the perfect dress. It was a white strapless gown with a small train, and a red underlay around the top and bottom of the dress. The front of the dress was plain white except for the band of red at the top and the bottom. The back had a large ivory bead applique design and a red bow tie with long red ribbons trailing down the back.

Tracy fell in love with it instantly. This dress was mostly white, and had just enough colour for the pizzazz she wanted, but the colour did not overpower the rest of the dress.

"That is perfect!" Tracy exclaimed. Mika nodded. She also liked this dress.

The consultant smiled. "Well then, let's go try on your dress. What size are you?" she asked as they moved out onto the showroom floor.

Harm got back to the car first. He was worried that he was running late and that Tracy might be worried. But just as he got to the car, his cell phone rang. It was Tracy who explained that she had finally found and purchased the perfect dress in the last hour of their time. She and Mika were just now grabbing a cab to get back to the car park, and to please wait. They would be there soon.

"Not a problem, Tracy. I actually have just arrived back myself. I was worried that you might be worried about me."

Tracy and Mika arrived in their cab just a few minutes later. Tracy bundled her dress bag into the trunk, and refused to allow Harm to see it.

"Like all good grooms, you will have to wait until the beach to see it." she giggled. "But I assure you, it is the perfect wedding dress for me. I was so lucky to find it. It has some pizzazz."

"Pizzazz?" Harm frowned.

"Yes, Harm, Pizzazz. A little something extra that makes the dress very special. Now are we all ready to go home?"

Harm and Mika nodded and they settled down in their seats for the one hour drive home.

Later that evening, after dinner, Thomas Manetti and Harm arranged to play a round of Golf the following day.

"Tracy can be your caddy. She knows the fairway, the holes and where the hazards are." Thomas declared.

Harm looked at Tracy who nodded. While Tracy had never played golf, she had often caddied for her father when she was younger. Not having seem Harm play, this would be her first opportunity. Harm agreed to play and they settled on a 10 am tee-off time at the first green.

Saturday July 7, 2001

At 10 am on the Saturday, Harm and his future father in law met at Chatmoss Country club to play 18 holes of golf. They agreed to play for strokes. It was a glorious sunny day, very typical of a Virginian summer. Thomas had asked his son Tony to be his caddy.

With Tracy as his caddy, Harm and his future father in law, teed off at the first hole at 10 AM. Since Harm's handicap was 10, he would be given one extra stroke on ten out of the 18 holes, if he needed them.

The first fairway were easy and Harm had no trouble making a birdie on that one. The second fairway was a putters night mare and he had to settle for a double bogie. Hole number three was another birdie and at the fourth fairway, Harm got caught up in his first sand traps ending up with another bogie. The next four holes Harm came in with birdies or even. The ninth hole was a chipping night mare and he ended up at three over par while Thomas made par. The tenth hole had more sand traps, but Harm was able to make it at just one over par.

Harm and Thomas had now completed the back nine holes of the course. Harm was currently sitting at two over par while Thomas was even. The group now moved to the front nine of the golf course.

Thomas had not spoken much to Harm during the course of their game. Mostly he watched. He watched as Harm played golf and had fun. Thomas also watched how Harm handled the bad plays and most importantly, how Harm treated his daughter, Tracy.

And as he watched, Thomas came to discover that Harm was the real thing. He really was an officer and a gentleman. Harm listened to everything Tracy told him about each hole. He always made his best play. He never got mad if the ball went into the rough, the trees or a sand patch. It was clear to Thomas that Harmon Rabb junior loved playing golf and also that Harmon Rabb Jr always treated the women in his life with respect.

Harmon never touched a golf cart. He preferred to walk the course and he and Tracy would often walk hand in hand along the fairways. While Tracy was Harm's caddy, it was usually Harm who dragged the golf bag behind them as they walked.

When they finally reached the seventeenth hole, Harm was getting a little tired. He was still holding his own at two over par, and this fairway had more sand traps around the hole. He managed to make even without going into a sand trap, and on the eighteenth and final hole, Harm actually made an eagle, or two under par. That actually brought his final score to an even game and he chose not to use his handicap at all. Thomas came in at one under par overall, beating Harm by just one stroke.

Thomas was very impressed with his future son in law. Harm was a very good golfer. He played well. He did not have tantrums as many other amateurs did, and he treated his caddy (albeit also his fiancee) with respect. Thomas could also see that he and Tracy did love each other. He was impressed that they did not feel that they had to show their love, with PDA's (public displays of affection) like a lot of young couples did these days. Just watching Harm and Tracy walking along the fairways holding hands, chatting and laughing, was proof enough to Thomas that his daughter was in very good hands. Thomas was now feeling ashamed of the somewhat jealous performance he had put on, back at the airfield on the night Harm and Tracy had arrived at Blue Ridge Airport.

At the end of the game, Thomas paid for the foursome to have dinner at the clubhouse, before they all returned back to the Manetti family residence for the night. The following day was Sunday and Harm and Tracy were scheduled to fly out at twelve noon, returning to Washington DC.

Sunday July 8, 2001

Sunday was yet another bright and sunny summer day when Harm woke up, showered, dressed and packed his bag all before heading to the Kitchen to have breakfast. He and Tracy planned to depart Blue Ridge airport at twelve noon in order to get home before dark. They both had to be back at their respective jobs the following day.

"Harm. What are we going to do about my dress? It's packed into a big box and I don't know if it will fit in Sarah's luggage compartment." Tracy spoke up as soon as Harm walked into the Kitchen.

He stopped and grinned. "What? No good morning kiss?"

Tracy stepped into Harm's personal space, placed her arms around his neck and stood on her toes to kiss him. "Good morning, Harm. But I am worried about my dress."

"If you have a very large box, we can pay to have it couriered directly from here to my parents place in La Jolla. This does assume that the dress fits you, as is, and does not require any alterations?"

Tracy's eyes opened wide at such a simple solution. She smiled. "Thanks Harm. Can't believe I didn't think of that myself. Yes, it fits. I just need to stay the same weight for the next four weeks, and we should be fine next month. So, if we pay for the courier and leave your parents address, then mom and dad can do that tomorrow, right?"

Harm nodded. "Yup." he grinned. "Any other worries? Are you packed and ready to go?"

Tracy nodded, "Yes, I'm packed, but I do hate saying goodbye."

Harm gathered Tracy into his arms and kissed the top of her head. "So do I, sweetheart, so do I."

Harm wrote down his parents address and telephone number in La Jolla, and left it along with some money in an envelope for Thomas and Mika to act on, the following day.

By 1100 hours, a good portion of the family were packed into three minivans and one large station wagon, since three of Tracy's brothers and their families were also leaving to return to their homes as well. Mike and his family would be returning to Boston, Dominic and his family to New York City and Rafael and his wife and children to Atlanta.

Since Harm had arrived late at night, he had not seen the impressive line of private Gulfstream Jets lined up outside of the General Aviation hangar.

Thomas was amused to see all of his grandchildren snapping pictures of themselves standing next to Harm's old bi-plane while Harm himself was quietly contemplating the gulfstream jets.

"I imagine you'll want one of these yourself, one day." Thomas murmured to Harm. Harm nodded, "Maybe. " he whispered. "Do your sons really own these? Do they fly? None of them ever said they had pilots licenses."

Thomas laughed. "Nope, They don't fly. That's why these jets are owned by their respective employers and why they have PILOTS who all got a paid vacation at Greensboro. Here they come now."

Harm watched a group of three pilots arriving at the General Aviation hangar and then separate, each pilot going to their own plane. They helped each family stow the luggage, checked the fuel level, do a walk around to check that nothing had been damaged in the last five days, and finally begin their passenger boarding sequence.

During this time, Tracy had gone around hugging each of her brothers, her sisters in law and the younger nieces and nephews who still were willing to be kissed and hugged.

Finally it was time for each adult and child to be checked off on the manifest and then allowed to enter their plane.

Harm and Tracy stood arm in arm as they watched all three jets taxi down the runway, and take off. Harm sighed, as he turned Tracy back towards the cars to get their luggage loaded into Sarah.

"Harm?" Thomas placed his hand on Harm's arm and indicated that he would like to speak privately. Tracy whispered that she would get Alex and Tony to load the luggage into Sarah while they talked. Harm gave her a quick hug and then moved away with his future father in law. He assumed he was about to be given either the blessing or the denial about whether or not he was good enough for the Manettis daughter.

"Harm. I'd like to apologise again for the horrible way I treated both you and Tracy when you arrived at this airfield five days ago. I had assumed that both of you were just settling for someone just because you are both getting on in years and you did not want to be lonely. I assumed that you did not have any real bond. But I see now that I was wrong. On the golf course yesterday, I saw everything I needed to see, and I was extremely impressed with your game, your love and respect for Tracy and your treatment of everyone else both on the course, at the clubhouse and in my family. I even spotted you talking to some of my grandsons. Can I ask what you were telling them?"

"They wanted to hear some flying stories, and I have a few to tell. So I told them what it was like to be a pilot, both in the Navy and in private as well. I think some of them may see themselves as becoming pilots when they grow up." Harm was quite embarrassed that he had been seen talking to some of the teenagers and pre-teens.

Thomas chuckled."That's actually impressive. Some of those kids have had no idea what they want to do and if you have been able to instill in them a desire to serve their country, as you and Tracy do and as I did, then I am grateful. I was quite disappointed that none of my sons ever joined the Navy or any of the Armed Forces."

Thomas continued. "I was also impressed with the loyalty you showed for Tracy when Bianca tried to seduce you at the club. Most men usually give in to her seduction in a matter of minutes. You did not. In fact you acted like she disgusted you."

"She did disgust me. Both in her actions and in her words. She has absolutely no respect or loyalty for you or anyone in your family. I honestly don't think that any restraining order is going to be enough to stop her from causing more trouble in the future. Noone switches off their racist beliefs overnight just because a restraining order tells them to." Harm felt it was time to be blunt.

Thomas nodded. While he was shocked at Harm being so blunt, especially since he was not even a member of the family yet, as an outsider Harm had a unique ability to assess the situation and see it for what it really was. Racism, pure and simple.

Harm continued. "While I have no doubt that you and your wife do love each other, this blatant racism within your family has got to end. It has isolated both Tracy and Mika for far too long. No wonder Tracy prefers to stay in DC and not come home. She does not escape the racism even in DC. In the ten months we have been dating, I have heard Tracy being called by a racist word twice. Incidently both times this was the same word that Bianca used. I cannot believe that you have not been able to see this. I understand that Bianca never says anything to you and your sons directly, which is why you have never seen just how vindictive and racist she truly is. Tracy thinks that the reason why Bianca doesn't usually make waves around you and your sons, is because you are men."

Harm stopped talking, and waited for Thomas to attack him again, just as he had five days earlier. He full expected Thomas to tell him that he was not good enough to marry his daughter. What he heard was totally the opposite.

"You are a good man, Harmon Rabb. I am thrilled that Tracy has chosen such a good man to be the love of her life. You most certainly have my blessing to marry my daughter." Thomas smiled, and held out his hand to be shaken. Harm shook his hand and smiled in relief. For the first time, Thomas had a full blown flyboy smile directed at him.

"It has been great talking to you, Thomas, but we have got to get going." Harm reluctantly dropped Mike's hand and began walking back towards the hangar entrance.

"Yes, of course." Thomas Manetti agreed and hurried after the taller and younger man.

Tracy was anxiously watching as the two most important men in her life, entered the hangar together. She was most relieved to see that they both had smiles across their faces, which meant that her daddy approved of her choice of husband.

Tracy hugged her father one last time while Harm did the walk-around check of the plane.

"He's a good man, Tracy. I gave him my blessing. I will see you in California next month at your wedding." Tom's eyes were moist as he hugged his daughter one last time and then hurried over to the cars to wait for his wife.

Mika gave her daughter one last hug. Tracy had told that they had left her wedding dress in its package as well as some money and the address, for her and Thomas to have the dress couriered out to California, because it would not fit into Sarah's luggage compartment. Mika nodded.

One last hug from Harm to Mika, and a whispered "Take of my little girl, Harmon Rabb. See you next month." and Mika too hurried out to the cars so that she and Tom could drive them home. Alex and Tony had dropped everyone off at the airport, helped stow the luggage on to Sarah, said goodbye to Tracy, and then driven two of the minivans back to their home.

Harm helped Tracy into her seat on the plane, boarded his own cockpit and they took off. They stopped at Lynchburg to refuel, and then battled a headwind all the way up to Leesburg, arriving at 1900 hours. For a trip that normally took 2 to 3 hours, this one had taken twice that long.

By the time Sarah was landed at Leesburg, and was parked at the General Aviation hangar, Harm and Tracy were both tired and hungry. A quick stop to pick up some Mediterranean take out, which they ate driving home. Harm dropped Tracy off at her apartment. A long lingering kiss at the doorway was all Harm could do, since he was not entering through her door. Once Harm was back home in his own apartment, he ironed his uniform for the following day and then fell into bed and was asleep in seconds.

_A/N - I am not a golf enthusiast, so if I have any of the terms wrong, please let me know privately, and I will fix them. To the reviewer who stated that it was not necessary for me to give a blow by blow account of the golf game, I beg to differ. I had to give a good solid reason for why Harm was lugging his heavy bag of golf clubs all over the state. LOL  
_

_A/N - Please read and review. I love getting reviews. Thank you. _


End file.
